Abstract
It feels incredibly sad to be writing this tribute to Agnes Skamballis, a dear friend and colleague of many years who passed away after a short illness in June 2023. She was part of the Sexualities journal from 1999, when founding editor the late Ken Plummer hired her to be the administrator for the journal. She had previously been a student of his and they shared a great friendship over three decades.
Agnes was exceptional at her job. Many contributors and editors have commented on how she made their experience of the journal such a positive one, that they felt cared for and in good hands with her. She brought not just an impressive efficiency and breadth of knowledge to the role but also a warm personal touch that was uniquely hers. Being the administrator for a journal requires enormous tact and efficiency. Authors often feel very vulnerable and Agnes never became desensitised to this. She was always calm, reassuring and kind. Although many contributors and editors only corresponded with or met her online, her personal warmth developed these connections.
Ken often remarked that Agnes kept the journal going while he was ill prior to getting a liver transplant in 2005. This was absolutely true. She calmly arranged for a series of guest edited issues to be published one after the other while he was indisposed and thus the journal continued apparently seamlessly.
Agnes faced many personal challenges herself. She was intimately aware of disability rights, firstly as the mother of a daughter with intellectual disabilities and then in later life when she became a wheelchair user. Eventually her mobility issues meant she had to work exclusively from home and in later years, well before the pandemic, was largely confined to her house. She had carers with whom she developed warm relationships, as she did with everyone who came into her orbit.
After she began to work from home full time, our regular meetings were conducted first on Skype then later on Zoom. I always scheduled longer for the meetings than required, because we would start and end speaking about our lives. Indeed sometimes I had to schedule an extra meeting entirely because we chatted so much we ran out of time to get through all the journal work. Although she was geographically confined, her world was not a small one. She always had lots of news to report.
We worked on many projects together. She liked being busy and having variety in her working life. In addition to being the Sexualities journal administrator (a role she also held for the journal European Societies), she was a skilled copy editor and transcriber. She formatted book manuscripts and PhD theses and transcribed research interviews. When one of my PhD students needed someone to prepare his manuscript, she insisted on doing it for free because she knew that he was short of funds. This was typical of Agnes’ kindness and generosity.
Agnes had remarkable forbearance. Despite facing many difficulties over the years – health issues, bereavements – she had a stalwart quality that was never fuelled by emotional distance. She remained intensely alive and open to the world, a warm and caring presence when others could easily have become bitter or frustrated. Her two children were the centre of her world and she had wonderful relationships with family and friends.
She had a strong faith (her mother and sister were Greek Orthodox nuns), which sustained her. Yet, she was completely open minded and non-judgemental, able to get on with anyone and comfortable in any social setting. I wish I believed in an afterlife as she did, because the image of her and Ken reunited and chuckling away is a comforting one.
She and Ken adored each other. I think they recognised in each other a kindred spirit, someone who loved life, people, laughter. His death in November 2022 hit her hard. One of her last roles was as the administrative organiser for the remembrance conference in his honour in June 2023. She was having some health issues at the time (not the short illness she would later succumb to) but was determined to take part. It was important to her to participate in this event to honour her late friend. We were in touch even more regularly during this time. The day after the conference we Face Timed and spoke about the event and about Ken. I remember I told her that I hoped she knew how much she meant to so many, how well loved she was and that we would all be lost without her. Those were some of the last words I ever spoke to her, as she died just eight days later. I hope she felt the truth of them. I like to think that she did.