Harris, Howard Leroy 1917-2014

HARRIS, MILLER, CRIST, GLASS, EZRRE, CHATFIELD

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 11/22/2014 at 18:37:30

Howard Leroy Harris was born on October 9, 1917 to Leroy and Leona (Miller) Harris at Hereford, Texas, where his parents and grandparents were pioneering wheat farmers in the Texas "panhandle." When he was two years old they moved back to Iowa where he grew up on the farm that had been bought by his grandparents in 1887. He acquired degrees from the University of Iowa, the University of Missouri, and Hartford Theological Seminary. A life-long Quaker, he was a conscientious objector in world War II and peacemaking and war resistance was a theme that informed and activated his entire life. Child rearing without punishment, and education that enhances natural creativity and curiosity instead of regimented schooling, became a major concern in his life, growing out of both anthropological research and the Quaker experience of spiritual growth.

Howard met Rosemary Crist in 1943 when they were both working at the American Friends Service Committee work camp at Flanner House in Indianapolis, Indiana, and they were married there in May of that year. During the summer of 1943 they took a 600 mile honeymoon bicycle trip through Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Howard taught botany at Friends University in Wichita, Kansas, for three years, spent five years in the pastoral ministry in Congregational and Friends churches, and six years counseling at Whitman Junior High school in Livonia, Michigan. He taught anthropology for three years at San Fernando Valley State College (now California State University at Northridge), and in 1966 became Associate Professor of Anthropology at Western Washington State College (now Western Washington University), and continued in this position until his gradual retirement 1986-1992. He continued to teach correspondence courses in anthropology until the summer of 2014. Teaching anthropology gave him great satisfaction. He often said that he was fortunate to get paid for doing what he loved to do anyway.

A life-long conservationist, hiking and backpacking, especially in mountainous terrain, was a major joy. The photo included in this obituary was taken on his 97th birthday up at Artist Point near Mt. Baker. In December of 1966 he and Rosemary, along with a friend, started the Peace Vigil in downtown Bellingham, which still continues today. In 2005 he was the first recipient of the Howard Harris Lifetime Peacemaker Award, named in his honor.

Rosemary died on January 1, 2009 and their granddaughter, Anna Rosemary, died on April 2, 2013. He is survived by his sister, Fern Glass of Tallassee, Alabama; his six children: David, Heather (Andrew) Ezrre, Holly, Timothy (Ellen) and their daughters Sophia and Emily; and Stanley (Karen) and their children Geoffrey (Jennifer), Nicholas, Althea, Thomas, Alexander and Violet, all of Bellingham; and Stephen (Margaret) of Newton, Iowa and their children Elizabeth, Katharine, Benjamin (Roslyn) and Mary (David) Chatfield; and seven, soon to be eight, great-grandchildren, as well as numerous nieces, nephews and cousins.

A memorial service will be held at 2:00 on Saturday, December 13 at the First Congregational Church in Bellingham. Memorial gifts may be sent to the Whatcom Peace and Justice Center, P.O. Box 2444, Bellingham, WA 98227; The American Friends Service Committee 1501 Cherry St., Philadelphia, PA 19102; or The Friends Committee on National Legislation, 245 Second St. NE, Washington, DC 20002. Share your memories and sign the online guestbook at http://www.whatcomcremationandfuneral.com/obituary/howard-leroy-harris#sthash.6W7LEyJF. ~ The Des Moines Register Legacy, Des Moines, Iowa 9 Oct 2014.