Obituary of Jeanny Knaff Shammas

SHAMMAS, JEANNY KNAFF, M.D. 02/24/1924 - 12/22/2019 Ann Arbor, Michigan Age 95 of Ann Arbor, passed away with her daughter at her bedside on December 22, 2019 at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital from complications of a stroke. She was born Johanna (Jeanny) Knaff on February 24, 1924 at home in the apartment above the family Pharmacy at 123 Rue de Bonnevoie, in the Bonnevoie Quarter of Luxembourg City, Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. She was the second of two daughters born to Bernard Johann (Jean) Knaff, Pharmacist, and Maria Therese Knaff-Lentz. Fluent in four languages (Luxembourgish, French, German, English), always a stellar student, as a teenager her education was interrupted and her community was devastated during the World War II occupation of Luxembourg. She often spoke of her gratitude for the American Armed Forces who liberated Luxembourg at the end of the War. She resumed her education, studying in Nancy, France, and at La Sorbonne in Paris, France, ultimately earning her Medical Degree as a Doctor of Medicine, Surgery, and Obstetrics, and was Licensed to Practice Medicine in Luxembourg in December, 1950. For the New Year 1951, she traversed the Atlantic Ocean on the Queen Mary with a Grant from the American Association of University Women. She traveled by train to the Menninger Foundation in Topeka, Kansas, to commence her Medical Residency in Psychiatry under the supervision of Carl Menninger. A year into her Residency, in 1952, Jeanny was sent to the train station to retrieve another physician, a Neurologist, who was arriving for his Psychiatric Residency at Menninger's, and who also spoke French. This was Jules Shammas, M.D., who had lectured as Professeur Agrege at La Sorbonne while Jeanny was a Medical student in Paris; she had skipped his lecture to go see Gone With The Wind. It was destiny. The pair enjoyed picnics at Lake Shawnee, where they made the decision to marry. In December 1952 they curtailed their Residencies, and traveled to Luxembourg to marry. On December 31, 1952 the marriage license was issued by the Mayor of Luxembourg, and the couple was married at Eglise de Bonnevoie on January 1, 1953. The couple traveled to Rome by car for their honeymoon, then traveled to Baghdad, Iraq where they resided for four years prior to returning to the United States to Kansas where they held Medical Licenses. Moving to Clarinda, Iowa to work at the Mental Health Institute, Jeanny resumed her studies, and was conferred with the Educational Council for Foreign Medical Graduates Certificate (ECFMG) on April 4, 1961. On November 12, 1964, Jeanny became a Naturalized United States Citizen in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Jeanny applied to finish her Residency in Psychiatry and was accepted at the Mayo Clinic and at the University of Michigan. She selected Ann Arbor in 1965 and completed her Psychiatric Residency in 1966. A woman of endless determination, energy, and resilience, she was Mother to three children, Rosette, Viviane, and Bob with whom she was pregnant during her final year of Residency at age 42 in 1966. She was a member of the American Medical Association and the American Psychiatric Association. Her career culminated as Chief of Outpatient Psychiatry at the Ann Arbor Veteran's Administration Hospital, where she specialized in the treatment of PTSD, and trained numerous Resident Physicians, with 20 years of service at the VA. She had many grateful patients. She retired in December 1987. Jeanny was widowed in 1977 at age 53 when ALS consumed Jules. She was predeceased by her father Jean in February 1975, husband Jules in November 1977, mother Maria in March 1990, daughter Rosette M. Soltis in December 2008, sister Josette Conter-Knaff in January 2009, and Late Life Companion Donald Huckins in January 2011. She is survived by her daughter Viviane, who was her caregiver for the past six years, and her son Bob (Patti); by Rosette's son Andrew M. Soltis; by Favorite Son-In-Law Michael W. Soltis with wife Lana Hawkins; by her Nieces Sylvie, Christiane, Yvette, Andree, Yasmine; by her Nephews, Basil, Faris, Leith, Namir, Fouad; and by her Special Extended Family: the Soltis Family; Joyce, Melissa, Leia, Michael and family; Krista, Suzy, Paula, Richard, Bill, John, and family. She was loved as Boma by many, especially Nicholas. She always said that her greatest accomplishment in life was her three children. A world citizen and traveler, she visited five Continents and resided on three. Her travels took her to all of Western Europe, Great Britain, the Middle East, Holy Land, Egypt, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, Russia, China twice, India, all 50 States of the U.S., and Canada. She enjoyed a decade in Naples, Florida as a snow bird. A visual person, she enjoyed walking four miles a day on the Naples beach, watching sunsets, bicycle touring, visiting National Parks, driving her car, eating out, being at home, classical music, playing piano, sewing, movies, documentaries, and showing her favorite places to her loved ones. She had an innate sense of style. Not easily dissuaded, she built a recreation room in the basement of the family home, unassisted, in her spare time, and developed expertise with the Weber grill. She created magical excitement at Christmas and on Birthdays. She was intelligent, benevolent, generous, integral, nurturing, an empath, a skilled listener, and didn't need words to read a person. She resided in her home, reading the newspaper, Time, and National Geographic, until her death. When asked by her daughter what she would have liked to have done with her life, she said that she was fortunate that she did exactly what she wanted to do, as a 'Healer of the Soul.' Jeanny pre-selected the Cremation Society of Michigan. Memorial Service arrangements are incomplete. Donations in lieu of flowers to: ALS Research at the University of Michigan, Alzheimer's Association, American Cancer Society, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Salvation Army, Humane Society of Huron Valley.