Dearest Patrick & Friends, Family, Students, & Colleagues of Paula, I am so sad and sorry to hear of Paula's passing! I have thought of her so many times and imagined a joyful retirement in Spain with long walks, wonderful food, and the best of company! I was on the periphery of Paula's very full life, but I echo what others have said about her wit, her unbridled joy, her unpretentious brilliance, her generosity, and that wonderful laugh! Paula inspired so many, and so she lives on! Thinking of you, Patrick!

Condolences to Patrick and all who knew her. I wish that I had made an effort to get in touch years ago. We were fellow students and friends at the U of Minnesota but lost touch after I had a baby and moved east. I will always cherish the time we had together.

Jane Green(formerly Brigham)

I only heard of Paula's passing recently. I am so very sorry, and my heart goes out to her family.

I met her in 1991 at a conference; I was actually arguing against her dissertation! She disagreed (naturally!) but she was very supportive then and throughout my career. She was simply brilliant. I know that ten years ago, I read one of her papers, which I could not follow! She spent hours with me on the phone, and more hours reviewing what I had written. She was that generous, and that supportive of others.

I know first-hand what a devoted teacher she was, because two of my students went to study with her.

Paula was always cheerful and had a wicked sense of humor. I will miss her, and I know that many, many more share my sentiments.

I am still in disbelief that such a great human being has been lost. I remember the first time I met Paula. I came to the University of Iowa for my PhD in 1991. I wasn't sure what exactly I wanted to study, but soon settled on syntax due to the passion I saw from Paula and the light that beamed from her face whenever we entered into a discussion on syntax. I remember the first presentation I had to give in her syntax class. Not knowing much about the topic, I prepared for days! During my presentation, I referred to Paula as "Dr. Kempchinsky"--she broke out in her famous laugh and stated, "Tanta formalidad despues de 7 semanas de clases!" My fellow classmates and I chuckled and I made sure to refer to her as Paula from then on! Paula was like family while I was in Iowa City working on my doctorate. But she was also family after I graduated. When my mother died, she was there to help me get through it. She and Patrick came to my wedding in Colorado. She sent my son Iowa gear when he was born. I will miss her sense of humor and her joy for life. May you rest in pease dear Paula.

Thinking about the loss my friends, academic family and colleagues have suffered. Paula Kempchinsky was an absolute gem of a human being.

She forced a goofy kid who thought he knew everything to think long and hard about what he wanted to do, always gave good advice even when it hurt to hear it and cared enough to give her best to the people and discipline she loved.

I met Paula in 2004 when she was randomly assigned to be my Spanish major advisor. We immediately bonded about how ridiculous it was that the university didn't give me faculty advisor before. The attention to my comma usage and eyerolls when I said my latest paper was about clitics (they were always about clitics) let me know she cared enough to know me and I never forgot some of these lessons.

Since then, I learned syntax was cool, that I could read Asturian, Iowa's state flag has a busy left periphery, boondoggles were a thing, numerous lessons on language and life and, most importantly, your teachers can be/become your friends.

Paula was a great scholar, professor, mentor and friend.

I'm not even sure when I first met Paula, but I think it was when she was still a student at UCLA. We crossed paths at many conferences in the years after that, though, and she was always so much fun to talk to. She was so smart in the way she approached hard linguistic problems, but she did it in the most unpretentious way imaginable. And I LOVED her wisecracks, both about linguistics and about life in general! I'll always remember when we hosted the Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages in El Paso/Cd. Juárez and at the reception, we had a ballet folklórico troupe emerge from the wings and perform several numbers. Paula told me they'd now NEVER be able to host LSRL in Iowa, because the best they could do to compete with that would be to have a troupe of dancing pigs, which wouldn't quite have the same effect. I also remember having a lot of fun at a conference in Oviedo many years ago. I'm not even sure now what conference it was, but we may have been the only Americans there, and Paula gave me lots of tips on getting along in Spain. Such a good linguist and such a good person... I'm going to miss her a lot.

I met Paula in 2018 after being at the Department of Spanish and Portuguese for almost 2 years. I was working in my office one afternoon when she knocked on my door and told me something like "I want to meet the Portuguese faculty who was hired while I was away". We started to talk and not even five minutes into the conversation we started to talk about politics and human rights violations. The conversation felt natural and I was amazed by how easily it was to engage in a conversation with her. I will always remember and cherished that brief moment when I met her and felt an immediate connection with her. Paula is going to be deeply missed. To Paula's family: please accept my condolences for your loss.

Paula was a very special colleague to me - Whenever I got together with her at a conference, I found a kindred spirit who was a free thinker and a caring friend.

Paula was to me the very light of lucidity. When my wife and I went to her colloquium on a Spanish problem in syntax, but equally when we enjoyed coffee or a tortilla española at her house while she explained her research on her family's history, from the old Slavic kingdoms to Pennsylvania coal country, Paula's snappy wit and gentle erudition delighted me. She was a dear colleague to my wife for three decades. I loved to hear them chat in Spanish. She was quick, cute, generous, and loyal. I admired how she got the better of her first illness, and after her transplant lived well for twenty more years. I join you all in condoling Patrick, that brave man, as he endures the loss of his compañera de la vida. Pat, we share your sorrow.

What can I say about Paula! I met her some time back in 1988 when I was an MA student in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Iowa. I had applied for a teaching assistantship in the Spanish Department and was awarded it. Paula was the teaching assistants’ supervisor. I learned a lot about teaching from attending our meetings with her and from attending some of her advanced syntax classes. I have to admit that she made me love syntax because she conveyed her love for it in each of her classes. Her enthusiasm for anything syntax-related was just contagious. After finishing my MA in TESOL and Linguistics I continued with my Ph.D. studies. Although I was working in the Department of Linguistics and Paula was not my official Ph.D. supervisor, I considered her so because she was always encouraging me, believing in me and helping me all the way through.

Besides being extremely intelligent, Paula was witty and funny. I have numerous anecdotes of my years in Iowa City and of her visits to Spain. I was always amazed at how much she knew about my country – politics, one of her favorite subjects, culture, traditions .. etc-. And I imagine that every time I think of Paula from now on I will always remember her laughter and the good times we had when we met in Asturias or in the Basque Country.

Although I knew she was not feeling well, I have to admit that her death caught me off guard. She was a survivor and, for some reason, I thought she would make it through again this time. It is very hard for me to think I will not see her again, although I realize how lucky I was to have met her and to have learned from her.

Rest in peace dear Paula, academic mother and friend. I will miss you.

It was my big pleasure to take Paula's syntactic theory course during the 2018 spring. After teaching that course, she retired. At the beginning of that semester, I've heard that she went back to teach after she recovered from the leukemia. However, I was surprised to found how energetic she was on the class. Her dress was always sharp, her explanations were always clear and logic. She gave me a lot of warm encouragement. I remembered the last two times I saw her. One was after the final exam, I went to her office to review the exam paper with her, at the end, she told me that she would go to Spain for a vacation and gave me a big hug. Another one was on the FLARE potluck, I remembered seeing her carefully divided a cake into even pieces. I remembered her contagious laugh during the classes and her carefully prepared handout and teaching materials. I see how passionate and proficient she was as a teacher. That encouraged me and inspired me a lot. By taking that course, I fell in love with syntax and enjoyed so much of drawing syntactic trees! I am about to start my career as a teacher, I hope I will become a good teacher for my students as Paula perfectly did. Thank you dear Paula, it's a great pleasure to knew you and learn from you.

The world lost a wonderful person on Sunday. Paula Kempchinsky was with Jennifer and me throughout our entire time at Iowa, and is a big part of who we are as people and academics. She was kind, generous, and one of the most intelligent people I've known.

What's helping me smile through the tears is her wit. She knew me well enough to know how nervous I would be defending my dissertation, so one of the first things she said to me that day was to ask if my bright blue dress shirt came with batteries. (I still love that shirt). She expected clear and concise writing, so when I wrote "In sum" on a paper once, she asked, "Are you doing math here?" When I wanted to specialize in phonology, she lamented losing me to the "dark side."

I don't have graduate students, so the relationships are different, but if I can be to my students half the teacher and mentor she was to me, I'll take that any day.

I am extremely grateful to have called Paula Kempchinsky my primary doctoral advisor. For years, she selflessly and tirelessly guided me through the program, with a breadth of knowledge and wisdom that is rarely encountered. What’s more, she always did so with the sass and sense of humor needed to keep us both smiling along the way. Paula is deeply admired and loved by many for her countless contributions the field, her impressive scope of linguistic knowledge, the care that she put into everything and everyone with whom she worked, her feisty demeanor and her sharp wit. I hope that I can hold myself to the same level of rigor and high standards to which she held herself, while also finding ways to laugh at myself along the way. It will be an enormous challenge, but the best kind: pushing myself to be more like the role model I was so lucky to have. As Tim Gupton put it, “She lives on through all of us—in our teaching, in our research, and in our writing.” I owe Paula many thanks for all that she has done for me, and I will miss her dearly.

Paula was the first boss I had when I was a Spanish TA. She was a wonderful person with a unique wit, which I found to be hilarious. Her loved ones have my deepest condolences.

Paula was one of my greatest mentors in syntax during my study in Iowa. Her sense of humor always brought joy and made the class interesting. She was a significant part in my academic life. I will keep her kindness forever in my heart. May you rest in peace, Prof. Paula Kempchinsky!

Hero Patrianto

Indonesia

Paula was my colleague for many years. She mentored many undergraduate and graduate students during her distinguished career. Many of these students are now educators in major universities around the United States and other countries. She had a great sense of humor and unique wit. She will be remembered by all who knew her. My deepest condolences to her family.

O. F. Díaz-Duque

Iowa City

Paula took my daughter Stefani under her wing and blessed her with her ideas, her humor, her love, and confidence. I only had a chance to meet her in person once, but I know her through Stefani. She was a beautiful light extinguished far too soon. She will be missed.

Paula always found the humor in life. Our kids enjoyed hearing the stories of travels she and Patrick had.