In Memoriam: Lynn Westney (1947-2021)

Long-time ANS member Lynn Westney passed away Sunday, Jan. 10, 2021, at Hamilton Communities in New Carlisle, Indiana. Born Dec. 24, 1947, in Chicago, Ill., to Joseph and Alma (Stankovitch) Tvrdik (both now deceased), Lynn lived a rich life filled with curiosity, exuberance and passion. In June 1980, she married William Homer Hattendorf, II, who preceded her in death in 1995. In August 1997, she married Robert J. Westney, who preceded her in death in 2014.

Lynn earned the BA in Sociology from Loyola and the MS in Library and Information Science from the University of Illinois at Champaign. Lynn enjoyed a 25-year career at the University of Illinois at Chicago where she was a reference librarian and Associate Professor and Coordinator of Reference Collection Development. She was a member of the American Library Association, Illinois Library Association, and the Canadian Society for the Study of Names. Lynn was Editor of the Educational Rankings Annual for years 1991-2006, and wrote numerous scholarly papers, many of which she presented as a guest speaker in a variety of international locations, including Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, Switzerland, Thailand, and the United States. She also served as the editor of a regular column on e-journals, “E-Journals-Inside and Out”, in JAHC: Journal of the Association for History and Computing.

Her 2007 paper, “From Courtesans to Queens: Recipes Named for Women”, can be found online in the archives of NAMES.

Lynn loved reading about and writing about food, and enjoyed fine dining and ethnic cuisines. She was an avid rock and fossil collector, especially the Petoskey stones found along the Michigan shoreline of Lake Michigan. She was also a passionate advocate for the protection and humane treatment of all animals, domesticated and wild.