Gwen Meister, Folklorist and Director of Nebraska Folklife, died October 16, 2023.
In Memoriam
Former New Mexico state folklorist, DJ, musician, and radio host, Claude Stephenson, died from natural causes on August 29, 2023.
Ronald L. Baker died June 1 in Indianapolis at the age of 85.
AFS Fellow and Professor of Folklore & Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia) Dan Ben-Amos died on March 26, 2023.
Folklorist Mickey Weems, who is facing terminal cancer, has decided to die with medical assistance on March 19, 2023. Friends and colleagues are invited to share memories, reflections, and photographs with Mickey now on his Facebook page.Â
Vivian Williams, fiddler, composer, recording artist, and writer, died on January 6, 2023 at the age of 84. She had been suffering with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), aka Lou Gehrig’s disease. Beginning as early as 1962, Vivian Williams, working with her late
Birgit Hannele Wilson, wife of folklorist William A (Bert) Wilson, died January 11, 2023.
Jan Rosenberg, AFS lifetime member, died on January 7, 2023.
James Stanley Lane, Jr., recipient of the 2019 Archie Green Award, died on December 27, 2022.
Folklorist John Vlach has died after a decade-long struggle with young onset Alzheimer's disease. John Michael Vlach was Professor of American Studies and Anthropology at The George Washington University and Director of the university's Folklife Program.