Not a day goes by . . . Good night, Queen.

Dear Felicia: You provided for me an intellectual home, and a family. A family of dear friends. Your generosity gave me a sense of surety. When I returned to the Conference each year, it was a "homecoming." I cannot imagine my career--as an alumnus of UNLV, a writer, a thinker--without your steady influence and abiding kindness. You have been a model for me, and many others, of a true academic, and an activist scholar. I say "have been," because you still are role model for me.  Your influence was immense. Thank you, Felicia. Thank you.  

Forever the Queen of Pop Culture,
known to the world as Ms. UNLV—
the one and only Felicia Campbell
is always in our thoughts. Unsere
Jahrzeit sei doch taeglich . . .

Carpe aeternam, gnaedige Doktorin.

I simply can't believe a second year has passed without my "brunch buddy" Felicia. I drove past our favorite bar yesterday on my way home from working out and suddenly found myself transported in time to all the memories I had with Felicia. We talked and laughed our way through life's ups and downs while sitting in the bar having breakfast or sitting in each others office commiserating about UNLV, our family, our travels, and our mutual friends. Life without her is just not the same for me and many others. What a fantastic ray of sunshine she was and still is in all of our hearts.

It is hard to believe that a year has passed already, but the fond and funny memories of Dr. Campbell have been wonderful and comforting. She was an exceptional person who made lifelong impressions and memories on people who were fortunate enough to know her or like me, be taught life lessons gained from her classes "way back when." Another memory popped up when she was the only woman to attend a Gambling Symposium in Switzerland and at that time, very long ago, she predicted the popularity of gambling among more women and the socialization of gambling in clubs where they also dined and gathered with friends. She gave us a glimpse of the future, which we take for granted here in Las Vegas now! Yes, she will be with us forever!!!

         DEUS INTERRUPTUS


Listening to music is like searching for God.

Just when you hear the call, the notes end.


For FFC, 1931-2020

              MEINE YAHRZEIT, IHRE YAHRZEIT


Heute ist meine Yahrzeit.

That’s what we Yids say on the anniversary of someone’s death.

Heute ist meine Yahrzeit.  Today is that day: that day of the year.

Today is the day when it happened.

Today is the day she died.

Heute ist meine Yahrzeit.

Felicia Campbell died one year ago today.

Today is the day set aside to observe her death.

Today is not just another day on the calendar.

Today is my day. My special day of mourning.

Heute ist meine Yahrzeit.

Today is devoted entirely to mourning her death.

Today is not a holiday, or a day off from school.

Today is not Yom Kippur, or some public event.

Today is about remembering someone I love.

Heute ist meine Yahrzeit.

Don’t expect me to go to work. Not today.

Don’t ask me to meet you for lunch, either.

Don’t ask me any questions, period.

Just this once, let me wail in peace.

I might go to shul, or I might not. 

That is none of your business.

Neither is anything else, frankly.

That is, unless it’s your Yahrzeit.

Then we understand each other.

Since the day belongs to us both,

let us mourn her spirit together.

This is neither prayer nor ritual.

It is the muted voice of sorrow.

Heute ist unsere Yahrzeit.

Felicia died a year ago today.

Yet her presence is still felt.

Always, and in all possible ways.

For even in death, she is ageless.

Felicia ist immer an meiner Seite.

Forever by your side, too, Bubbie . . .

That goes for everyone she knew:

every soul whose life she touched.

Yahrzeit nach Yahrzeit,

bis in die Ewigkeit . . .

So until next year in Las Vegas . . .

reserve a place for us at dinner.

I miss you dear Felicia. I miss all the warm and witty conversations we
enjoyed at TABLE 34.
The place is not the same, nor am I. There is an emptiness, a desire for
us to catch up on family news, gossip and our lives.
I will always treasure those moments and our long friendship.
With great admiration,
Bernice Jaeger 

It has to be a candle. Warm, giving, illuminating, in motion. Her office door always open. Her voice on the public station reviewing books few had yet rippled. I, too, thought she would always be “there” - in the valley pointing to things happening over the mountains. I was a lowly “part-timer” at UNLV, but she allowed me to copy edit PCR, attend the conferences and present. She and Charles Adams helped me endure.  After leaving UNLV I googled her annually to see what was new – there was always the New.
I love your page, Tracy. I remember going to deliver a message to her daughter reading in the mail room. There was a seated woman in a tight maroon cloche head down in a book who looked up and I saw a fabulous earring and for a moment was in Paris. Dr. Campbell gave birth to new mental objects in many a student, but also to some really neat people. Please accept my condolences on your family's loss and grief.

Being reminded that it is her birthday today reminds me of all of the great times with her, all of the encouragement she gave to all of us (including me), and my deep admiration for her intelligence, warmth, spirit, and decency--and how she instilled them in Tracy and the family.

I will miss our "every so often" breakfast meetings at the bar on Durango! We talked abut family, past adventures, shared friends and sometimes laughed so much we disrupted the solitude of the other patrons.  One day I arrived early to the bar on a sunny fall morning and as I patiently waited for Felicia I wondered what adventures she was up to lately. The minute I saw her I knew. She came strutting down the aisle, without a cane or a walker, wearing leggings and a sweatshirt looking like she was a cover girl for the AARP Magazine! The smile on her face lit up the room as she knew she was an impressive sight!  It was the same smile I was so accustomed to seeing at UNLV when she won whatever battle she was fighting for at the moment she declared victory. Felicia was so proud to be walking on her own. 
I am so very thankful to have known this incredible woman who fought to the end for women's rights as well as human rights. On one of the last conversations we had while she was in the hospital, she promised to write her life story and I promised she would be the first to read mine.  I feel very fortunate to have called her "friend." Susan

I started coming to the FWPCA meetings as a Graduate student at USC in the late 12]980s/early 1990s. Then about 10 years ago I started coming again--every year--bringing my own graduate and undergraduate students from the University of Utah. We came because the conference was always so supportive, welcoming and fun. The last panel I attended at last year's conference was the one on Las Vegas. I had meant to go to one of those for years but never had. I am so glad I did. Felicia's combined intellectual acumen and dry humor made it a memorable treat. As the conference itself so often was.

As an alumnus of UNLV (M.A., English, 1976), I met Felicia when I was a graduate student there. However, I was unable to take a class from her during my years there.  I got to know her much better because of my attendance at the FWPCA/ACA. I attended annually from the early 1990's. It was a blessing, and a privilege to get to know Felicia; when we talked once, she mentioned that she didn't teach graduate level classes during my time there. Although Felicia was never my classroom teacher, I learned so very much from her. She exuded love: a love of colleagues and friends, and I counted myself in that number, on both counts. She was a boost to my career, as we stayed in touch over the years, and she afforded me a number of publication opportunities, and reviewed my second novel.  During the annual conference, Felicia counted me as one of her "boys," a group that attended annually and steadfastly supported her and the annual conference.  We--her boys--always spent a post-conference dinner with her and her family members. It was special. I loved and admired Dr. Felicia Campbell. She was special. She was one of a kind. I miss her.

  Felicia Campbell was many things to many people.

  She was also the one who held everything together.

  She was both a great scholar and a great soul,

  a thinker and a doer, a teacher and a prophet.

 Above all, she was (and is) a national institution.

 She built UNLV.  She raised UNLV. She is UNLV.

 Her life is her legacy: a monument to the world.

 It shall abide.

These wonderful words tell me about this amazing woman. Sadly, I only met Felicia a couple of times. But I know that she was brilliant, strong, and a great mother to Tracy and an equally great grandmother to Max and Sigourney. Many will miss her and will hopefully think about her often. Keep her passions alive in your conversations and in your memories. (Laurie Tuttle Hampton)

I knew Felicia Campbell for about 35 years. I never had a class with her, but she influenced me so much. She encouraged my interest in popular culture and so many other things. She was smart, funny, innovative, thoughtful, and everything else any of us could want in a friend or family member. Our loss doesn't begin to compare with the loss suffered by Tracy and Allan and Max and Sigourney. But all of us have suffered a great loss, and so has the world.

I knew her first as my professor, then mentor, then for over forty years as
my dear friend.
I hope when I cross over she will be waiting for me to continue our lasting
relationship.

Tracy,
I am so sorry to hear about the passing of your mom. This is such a loving tribute to her! While I did not have the honor of knowing your mom, I have the honor of knowing you and your family. If she was anything like you then she was smart, beautiful, and kind. A triple threat, for sure! Please know that I - and your Mesa family - are with you during this time and all the time. I recently read that the pain of losing a loved one never goes away. It simply changes. My hope for you is that the pain and loss you feel now changes into memories of her love and a feeling she will always be with you because she always will be there, in your heart.
- Cathy

Dr. Campbell was a major influence on my life, as I was there at "NSU" and was fortunate enough to have had two undergraduate English courses and one graduate class ("Women in Literature"). Her sense of humor, irony and fun infused those classes with such joy (example, when the other classes read the "standards" for American Literature, she assigned "Catch-22" and "Lolita!" What an amazing individual and I indeed think she would be here forever. I learned so much from her and treasure that experience. 
Thank you!!!!

This website was created to honor my wonderful and amazing mother Felicia Florine Campbell of Blue Diamond, NV and the longest serving faculty member at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas until she passed. If you have a photo that you would like to share or a memory please feel free to leave one under the stories tab.

Please take the time to read her obituary written by H. Peter Steeves.
The day after mom died, I called her dear friend Peter to tell him she was gone and to ask him to write her obituary. In spite of his own intense grief and sense of loss, he agreed and penned the beautiful words you will read. My family I are will be forever grateful that Peter wrote such an insightful and loving tribute. Thank you my friend for all you do and all you give back to the world. You are truly one of the good ones. Tracy, Allan, Max and Sigourney

Due to Covid-19 we are in the process of determining when her memorial will be held. Due to restrictions on live gatherings, we are thinking early in 2021. I will keep everyone updated.