Fred,
Thanks for posting this, even though the news is terrible. She
and I had been corresponding intermittently since she left ISI
but she seemed to be doing much better (or said she was) when we
last exchanged notes.
For those who don't know, Joyce was not only an AD for a long
time, but basically created the so-called User Services Area
which was responsible for most of our explanatory "how things
work" documents, including the FYI series of RFCs that you
mentioned. In addition to "who is the RFC Editor", there were
also a range of stories about people calling in the mid-1980s
and looking for the author of the Telnet specs... and not
believing the famous J.K. Reynolds was actually a woman -- a
lesson parts of the community have still not learned.
She set a very high standard for interpersonal relationships in
the IETF, one that we can only approximate with our assorted
"good behavior" documents. I've frequently missed her presence,
kindness, and wisdom since she became inactive. She will
certainly be missed.
john
--On Wednesday, December 30, 2015 09:02 +0000 "Fred Baker
(fred)" <fred(_at_)cisco(_dot_)com> wrote:
Diane Reynolds, sister of Joyce Reynolds, posted the following
a few hours ago on Joyce's Facebook page:
It is with great sadness to report that my beloved sister,
Joyce Reynolds, passed away early Monday December 28,2015 due
to complications of cancer.Joyce passed peacefully at home.
Her friends and colleagues are welcome to post their thoughts
and memories of Joyce. Her Facebook page will remain
indefinitely.
For those of her that didn't get to know her, she was an early
Area Director in the IETF, and worked closely with Jon Postel
in the IANA and RFC Editor's offices. She enjoyed telling this
story about that: someone wrote to Jon asking "who is the RFC
Editor? Is that you, or Joyce?", to which he responded "Yes".
She championed the FYI series of RFCs, and wrote several of
them. One example is the documentation of the Morris Worm, an
early attack, in RFC 1135. She is listed as an author or
co-author (often with Jon) of 26 RFCs.
The Facebook page mentioned is
https://www.facebook.com/joyce.reynolds.129
FB77.