At 4 am on April 7, 2022, Professor Shirley Wood passed away in Kaifeng at the age of 96. Shirley Wood is a great educator, and a professor and doctoral supervisor in the School of Foreign Languages at Henan University.

Shirley Wood was born in Arkansas in the United States on July 15, 1925. She is one of the first batch of foreign teachers coming to China. In 1957, she started her teaching career at Henan University, serving successively as Director of the Institute of Foreign Languages and Literature at Henan University, Honorary Dean of the Department of Foreign Languages. She was also one of the directors of the Eugene O 'Neil Society, a member of the Standing Committee of the 5th to 8th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference of Henan Province, and a recipient of the special government allowance from the State Council.

She went to elementary school in Red Bank, New Jersey, from September 1931 to August 1932, in Fort Smith, Arkansas, from September 1932 to August 1933, and in Texarkana, Arkansas, from September 1933 to August 1937. Then she went to middle school in Austin, Texas, from September 1937 to August 1939, and went to high school in Austin, Texas, from September 1939 to August 1941. She went to night high school in Detrovt, Michigan, from September 1941 to June 1942, and attended Michigan State College (today’s Michigan State College of Agriculture) in East Lansing, Michigan, in October 1942. She graduated from the Department of Plant Biology 4 years later. After graduation, she went to China with his husband Huang Yuanbo, an overseas Chinese student and a chief engineer in 1946. From June 1946 to June 1948, she worked as an associate professor of English in Shaanxi Wugong National Northwest Agricultural College. From December 1948 to October 1950, she worked as a typist in Texaco Oil Company in Shanghai. In April 1957, she was invited to teach as an associate professor in the Department of Foreign Languages at Kaifeng Normal University (today’s Henan University). In December 1975, Shirley Wood became a Chinese citizen thanks to an instruction from former premier Zhou Enlai. In October 1979, she became a professor at Henan University, her promotion approved by the Henan Provincial Education Commission. In October 1993, she became a recipient of the special government allowance from the State Council. In 1998, she became doctoral supervisor in English Language and Literature in the Department of Foreign Languages at Henan University. She retired in August 2020.

Shirley Wood has worked at Henan University for nearly 70 years. She has always been devoted to her mission as an English teacher, and worked wholeheartedly and meticulously for the cause of training students and cultivating talents. She has taught in total more than 3000 undergraduate students and 300 postgraduate students, and the courses she has taught include “British and American Literary Criticism”, “British and American Literature”, and “English Writing and Reading Skills”, etc. Her flexible teaching approach and active classroom atmosphere have won praise from both teachers and students. She plays the important role of teaching, helping, and guiding young teachers, and makes great contribution to the construction and development of the discipline of English Language and Literature at Henan University.

She has been devoted to teaching and scientific research and the cultural exchanges between China and the United States. She has published books, such as A Street in China (an English Novel), Practical English Pronunciation Course, Agriculture and Agricultural Education in the United States, and History of British and American Literary Criticism. She has published academic papers, such as “Chinese Students and Their Reading Skills”, “Improving the Quality of Postgraduate Teaching and Cultivating High-level English Talents”, “Essays on Eugene O 'Neill's Plays”, “On Eugene O 'Neill's Theater Language”, and “The Iceman Cometh: O'Neill's Ship of Fools”. Besides, she has translated texts of a total of 450 000 words for Chinese Encyclopedia published in London, and the first draft of Selected Writings of Chen Yun. People's Daily praised her as "the matchmaker of the cultural exchanges between China and the West".

In 2019, she was awarded the “Commemorative Medal Celebrating the 70th Anniversary of the Founding of the People’s Republic of China” by the CPC Central Committee, The State Council, and the Central Military Commission. She has also been awarded the title of "Top Ten Most Accomplished Foreign Teacher" by the State Bureau of Foreign Expert, and many other titles such as "Outstanding Educator in Henan Province", "Annual Educator of 'Inspire the Central Plains' in Henan Province", "Excellent Teacher of Postgraduate Education in Henan Province", "Advanced Educator in Kaifeng". She has also won the “Second Prize of Excellent Teaching Achievements in Colleges and Universities of Henan Province", the "Second Prize of Zeng Xianzi Education Fund", and other honors.

She is a person of integrity, a paragon of virtue, and a teacher with outstanding achievements, the model of the teachers to imitate. She took Henan University as her home, and devoted her life to English education and research. In her later years, she still gave her support to the implementation of the "two aircraft carriers" strategy (the strategy of developing two provincial-leading universities) in Henan, and the development of Henan University toward the goal of first-class university and first-class disciplines of the world; she did a lot of practical work, and is held in high esteem by the teachers and students at Henan university.

Professor Shirley Wood left us. It is a great loss to Henan University. We grieve her passing with the memories she gave, the good she did, the dream she kept alive. We shall turn our grief into strength, make efforts for the advance of the university in all its undertakings, and carry on with the cause she spent her entire life pursuing.

Rest in peace, Professor Shirley Wood.