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In Memoriam

Constance Murphy Shillingburg

1938–2008

This book is dedicated to the loving memory of Constance Murphy Shillingburg. We met at the University of New Mexico at the beginning of her freshman year in 1956. We were married 4 years later, 1 week after she graduated. During my first 2 years in dental school, I made 13 trips, totaling over 22,000 miles, from Los Angeles to Albuquerque. She shared all of the triumphs and disappointments of my last 2 years in dental school. It was not my career; it was our career. She supported me in all that I did. She didn’t question my leaving practice to start a career in academics or our moving from California to Oklahoma. We had three daughters along the way. Although she had three open-heart surgeries in her teens because of rheumatic fever and then two cancer surgeries later in life, she was the most optimistic person I ever met.

She accompanied me on 29 trips outside the United States. At first she came along because she loved to travel, and I didn’t enjoy the trips nearly as much without her. However, I very quickly learned that my hosts and audiences were enchanted by her. They enjoyed her as much or more than they did me, and she used what she learned on those trips in her teaching. She died 3 weeks after we celebrated our 48th wedding anniversary. There is a song on the most recent Glen Campbell album, Ghost on the Canvas, that sums it up perfectly: “There’s no me…without you.”