The Center for Folklore Studies mourns the passing of Dr. Jean (Mayo) MacLaughlin on October 27, 2020.  Trained at the Folklore Institute at Indiana University (MA 1970, PhD 1977), Jean joined the small contingent of Folklore faculty at the OSU English Department in 1974. She was an excellent, dedicated, and meticulous teacher. Subsequently, she worked with Tim Lloyd at the Ohio Arts Council and then left folklore to pursue a career as a software consultant.  She was the founder and operator of her own business, Athena Software. Even though Jean’s time at OSU was brief, she was an important part of the English department-centered folklore coalition in the period before the Center for Folklore Studies came into being. This was a time, as Amy Shuman recalls, when English colleagues had very little understanding or appreciation of Folklore as an academic field. Tim Lloyd remembers Jean as an insightful scholar, a perceptive and positive critic, and a friend to all: her hearty laugh came easily, especially in reaction to news of one of the world's many absurdities. May she rest in peace.

An obituary is available here: https://www.rutherfordfuneralhomes.com/obituaries/Elizabeth-Maclaughlin/ and the American Folklore Society remembrance here.