1. 21 September 1953 to 25 November 2015
After receiving her PhD from the University of British Columbia, Terry moved to Tucson in 1990 where she began her long and fruitful career in the University of Arizona Department of Russian and Slavic Studies. Head of the department until 2015, Terry co-ordinated several partnerships with the community, including a tutoring program for high school students learning Russian and an internship for UA students to work with Holocaust survivors.
Terry’s contribution to the field of Slavic Studies includes many articles, translations, presentations, reviews, and a full-length study of the popular Russian writer Valentin Rasputin. Her monograph, The Novellas of Valentin Rasputin: Genre, Language and Style (1989), was one of the first works to examine this author in depth. A pioneer in the field of gender and Russian literary studies, Terry authored groundbreaking work on the portrayal of alcoholism in female-authored texts from the Soviet and post-Soviet periods.
An innovative teacher and inspiring mentor, Terry encouraged her students to challenge themselves and actualize their potential. The Russian and Slavic Studies Department at the University of Arizona, along with countless friends and colleagues, will remember her legacy and the impact she had on our field and on the lives of those she knew.
Terry was a longtime member of the Canadian Association of Slavists and a regular contributor to Canadian Slavonic Papers/Revue canadienne des slavistes. Most recently, she participated in the Canadian delegation to the International Congress of Slavists in Minsk in 2013; her paper at the Congress, “Love and Alcohol: Performance in the Fiction and Life of Writer-Singer Nataliia Medvedeva,” was published in CSP/RCS that year.
When not giving 100% to her students and colleagues, Terry was dedicated to her daughter, Oksana Legebokoff, who lives in Vancouver. Ever a true Canadian, she was an avid hockey fan, and also found time to pursue her love of the textile arts in all their forms, especially sewing.
Terry nicely summarized her post-retirement goals in a February 2014 interview: “Some kind of volunteering. Quite honestly, I could see myself working in a bookstore. I love books [and] travelling to places I have never been like South America and Africa. I would just like to be in a place I’ve never been before.” Sadly, she was not able to pursue those goals, but her generosity and spirit of adventure will remain with all of us.
A fund has been established in honour of Terry’s memory. Gifts to The Teresa Polowy Memorial Fund will go to University of Arizona students for the study of Slavic languages and literature. Cheques can be made payable to “UAF/Teresa Polowy Memorial Fund” and sent to:
UA College of Humanities
Attn: Development Office
PO Box 210067
Tucson, AZ 85721
USA