Grace Starry West

Grace Starry West
Grace Starry, from a 1966 newspaper.
Born	October 5, 1946 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Died	May 19, 2019 Hillsdale, Michigan
Nationality	American
Occupation	Classics scholar
Spouse	Thomas G. West

Grace Starry West (October 5, 1946 – May 19, 2019) was an American classics scholar, best known as co-translator of a popular English edition of four texts on Socrates. She taught at the University of Dallas in Texas, and at Hillsdale College in Michigan.

Early life and education

Grace Starry was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the daughter of McKinley Starry and Joy Champlin Starry. She graduated from high school in Carlsbad, New Mexico in 1964,[1] and from Scripps College in 1968.[2] She held a Fulbright Scholar appointment for research at Heidelberg University from 1972 to 1974. She completed her doctoral studies at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1975, with a dissertation titled Women in Vergil’s Aeneid.[3]

Career

West was a member of the classics faculty at the University of Dallas[4] from 1975 to 2011, including a stint as department chair from 1997 to 2006.[5] She wrote commentaries on classical texts, and with her husband published widely-assigned translations of texts by Plato and Aristophanes. She also wrote about classical references in Shakespeare.[6] West was a member of the Society for Classical Studies, and a trustee of the Vergilian Society.[7] She served a term as president of the Texas Classical Association, and founded the Metroplex Classical Association in Dallas.[3] After 2011, she taught at Hillsdale College in Michigan.[8]

Publications

• Women in Vergil's Aeneid (1975)[9]
• Four texts on Socrates : Plato's Euthyphro, Apology, and Crito, and Aristophanes' Clouds (translation, with Thomas G. West, 1984)[10]
• Dion (commentary, 1985)[11]
• Charmides (translation, with Thomas G. West, 1986)[12]
• Pro Archia poeta oratio (translation, 1987)

Personal life

Grace Starry married fellow classics scholar Thomas G. West in 1974. They had four children. West died from lung cancer in 2019, aged 72 years, at her home in Hillsdale, Michigan.[3][13]

References

1. "Carlsbad Girl to Spend Fall and Winter Studying in Sunny Italy". Carlsbad Current-Argus. 1966-07-24. p. 15. Retrieved 2020-01-06 – via Newspapers.com.
2. "Grace Starry is Phi Bete". Carlsbad Current-Argus. 1968-05-06. p. 5. Retrieved 2020-01-06 – via Newspapers.com.
3. West, David T. (2019-06-21). "In Memoriam: Grace Starry West". Society for Classical Studies. Retrieved 2020-01-06.
4. "Tributes: A Recollection of the Life and Work of Grace Starry West". UD Calendar. Retrieved 2020-01-06.
5. Jackson, Mike (2000-07-11). "As interest grows, area educators hope Latin programs can continue". The Monitor. p. 25. Retrieved 2020-01-06 – via Newspapers.com.
6. West, Grace Starry (1982). "Going by the Book: Classical Allusions in Shakespeare's "Titus Andronicus"". Studies in Philology. 79 (1): 62–77. ISSN 0039-3738. JSTOR 4174108.
7. "The Trustees of The Vergilian Society 1938-1988". Vergilius: 30–32. 1988. ISSN 0506-7294. JSTOR 41592435.
8. Gergens, Austin (2019-06-09). ""Tremendous generosity": Friends, professors, and students remember classics professor Grace West". Hillsdale Collegian. Retrieved 2020-01-06.
9. West, Grace Starry (1975). Women in Vergil's Aeneid. University of California, Los Angeles.
10. Plato; Aristophanes (1998). Four Texts on Socrates: Plato's Euthyphro, Apology, and Crito, and Aristophanes' Clouds. Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0-8014-8574-9.
11. Nepos, Cornelius; West, Grace Starry (1985). Dion (in Latin). Thomas Library, Bryn Mawr College. ISBN 9780929524443.
12. Plato (1986). Charmides. Hackett Publishing. ISBN 978-0-87220-010-4.
13. "Grace Starry West Obituary - Visitation & Funeral Information". Tribute Archive. Retrieved 2020-01-06.

External links

• Grace Starry West, "Obvious Virtues? Augustus’ Golden Shield and Sallust’s Presentation of Caesar and Cato" (a 2003 conference paper abstract)