Harriman, Raymond Davis 1888-1972

HARRIMAN, MARTIN, BROWN

Posted By: Marilyn Holmes (email)
Date: 5/17/2012 at 10:20:56

The Grinnell (IA) Herald-Register; (1972)

FORMER RESIDENT DIES IN CALIFORNIA

Grinnell friends have received word of the death of a former Grinnellian, Raymond Davis Harriman, June 1 at Los Gatos, California.

The deceased was born in Grinnell and received his high school and college education here. He was graduated from Grinnell College in the class of 1909.

His father was A.C. Harriman, an early-day city clerk in Grinnell.

The following account of his life and death in California is from the daily newspaper at Palo Alto, California:

Emeritus Prof. Raymond Davis Harriman, retired head of the Stanford University Classics Department and a former trustee of the Palo Alto Unified School District, died Wednesday at a Los Gatos convalescent hospital after an illness of several months. He was 83.

Harriman joined the Stanford faculty in 1930 and was named head of the department in 1937. He retired in 1953 to part-time teaching and writing, at which time he moved from his home in the 1300 block of Lincoln Avenue, Palo Alto, to Walnut Creek.

Harriman was elected to the school board in 1945 by a 2 to 1 margin over his single opponent, during which he advocated a greater emphasis on teaching fundamental subjects as opposed to "Progressive education." He served until 1950 when he stepped down because of his pending retirement from Stanford.

He was a native of Grinnell, Iowa, and graduated in 1909 from Grinnell College. He received a master's degree in 1914 from the University of Wisconsin, and his doctorate there a year later.

He was instructor of ancient languages from 1917 to 1922 at the University of Utah.

He became assistant professor at Utah in 1922 and associate professor in 1928, then moved to Stanford in 1930 and became a full professor in 1934.

He was a strong advocate of teaching language in grade school as a "Living thing," stressing its importance in the growth of the student's capabilities.

He was active in Stanford and community affairs.

During World War II he organized the special Army training and reclassification group at Stanford--the largest such training unit at any college or university.

He was a member of the American Philological Association and a past president of the Philological Association of the Pacific Coast and a member of other professional groups.

Harriman is survived by his wife, *Mary Ruth Harriman of Los Gatos; a son,John M. Harriman of Los Gatos; a daughter, Mrs. Jo Ann Brown of Albuquerque, N.M.; and by six grandchildren.

Private funeral services were held today in Los Gatos at the Chapel of the Hills mortuary.

Transcriber Note: Mary Ruth (*Martin) Harriman