IN MEMORIAM

James L. Woodress

Professor of English, Emeritus
UC Davis
1916-2011

To the deep regret of his colleagues in the English department at UC Davis, James L. Woodress died on May 19, 2011, at the age of 94. 

A member of the English department from 1966 until his retirement in 1987, James Woodress will be remembered at UC Davis for his signal contributions to the department’s development, first as faculty member, then as graduate adviser and chair.  With fellow scholars William Van O’Connor and Brom Weber, Woodress established UC Davis as a prominent force in the field of American literary studies.  He will be remembered for his many contributions to the field, most notably his two books on Willa Cather, Willa Cather:  Her Life and Art (1970) and Willa Cather:  A Literary Life (1987).  The second of these books, described in the New York Times as “the most cogent, balanced biography of Cather to date,” contributed significantly to the high reputation that Cather currently holds among American authors. 

Professor Woodress’s other scholarly contributions were so numerous and important that in 1985 he was awarded the Hubbell Medal by the American Literature section of the Modern Language Association.  In 1995, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Nebraska at Lincoln.  His military service in Italy toward the end of World War II eventuated in a lifelong affection for the country and in his first scholarly book, Howells in Italy, a study of William Dean Howells’ service as American Consul in Venice.   In addition to his work on Cather and Howells, Professor Woodress was the author of biographies of Joel Barlow and Booth Tarkington.  In 1963, he initiated American Literary Scholarship:  An Annual, a project in which he was soon joined as co-editor by J. Albert Robbins of Indiana University.  Now entering its forty-ninth year, this annual survey remains an invaluable resource for scholars and students.

A shy, courtly man, Professor Woodress earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Amherst College in 1938, a Master’s degree from New York University in 1943, and a doctorate at Duke University in 1950, where his dissertation was the basis for Howells in Italy.  He was noted for his high ethical and professional standards and his unfailing generosity, often engaging in acts of helpfulness behind the scenes that recipients might not learn of for years, if ever.  For many decades he played noon-time tennis at Davis with colleagues and graduate students.  In recent years, he remained extraordinarily generous to the UC Davis English department through the “James and Roberta Woodress Endowed Fund,” which supports English graduate students with research awards and grants for international travel.   His mentorship of undergraduate and graduate students and younger faculty members extended well into his retirement years.   A tragedy for Professor Woodress was the untimely death in 2002 of Louis Owens, former student and noted Native American novelist and scholar, whom Professor Woodress described in a memorial service as “the son he never had.”

A number of Professor Woodress’s students have gone on to distinguished academic and leadership careers.  Former student Walter Harrison, now president of the University of Hartford and Chair of the National Collegiate Athletic Association Committee on Academic Performance, remembers his mentor:

My wife, Dianne, and I were both graduate students in the English department during the 1970s.  As he did with so many students, Jim took us under his tutelage and taught us the importance of the life of the mind, but also personally looked out for us, allowing us to live in his and Roberta’s home twice while they were on sabbatical and encouraging and enabling us to spend an exchange year in Germany.  Three and half decades later, we realize he was a role model for us as a teacher and scholar but, more importantly, he taught us what it meant to be caring, responsible human beings.

In 1940 Professor Woodress married Roberta Wilson, his companion for sixty-seven years until her death in 2007.  A spirited and supportive woman, Roberta shared with Jim a life of work, travel, and friendships around the world.  They had no children.  In 1997, ten years after his retirement, Professor Woodress and Roberta moved to Mt. San Antonio Gardens in Claremont/Pomona, where they were active socially and did more traveling.

A major figure in the generation of literary scholars of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, and a man possessing many admirable traits of character, James Woodress will be remembered with deep affection by national and international friends, students, and university and professional colleagues.