Obituary of Georgiana Harris

Georgiana (Starks) Harris, 8/20/1933 - 4/13/2025.

Died peacefully at home, surrounded by family after a brief illness. Georgie was born in Owatonna, MN. She grew up Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa.

She started College at Carleton College, and then finished her education at Michigan State University, where she got a bachelors degree in Elementary Education and Special Education. She used that degree to teach the visually impaired for several years while living in Michigan.

She met John (Jack) Harris while at Michigan State. He worked in the dining room in her dorm. They formed a “red heads club” of which they were the only two members. This “club” eventually led to their marriage, which lasted just shy of 60 years of what she called “mostly wedded bliss.”

This union created 3 red haired daughters, Rebecca Leigh (Corby), Susan Antoinette (Ken), and Ann Elizabeth (Jack), whom she provided most of the hard work of raising, in Appleton, WI, where her husband, an OB/GYN, set up his medical practice.

Georgie was no slouch and spent much of her life bringing humor and intelligence to friends and neighbors. She volunteered with American Field Service and hosted two beautiful girls, Filiz (Germany) and Zabeth (Belgium) for their senior years in High School.

She lead one of the handbell choirs at First Congregational Church in Appleton, where she served on the Pastoral Counseling Center as a Board Member. She also served as a Friends in Serving Humanity (FISH) board member, and the Wisconsin Committee for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect. She gathered several wonderful friends from this connection, who have accompanied her through the years, and remain close.

Music and the arts were important parts of her life. She sang in choirs and taught at least one of her daughters how to read music, sitting at the harpsichord that was present, along with a piano, for most of her time with Jack. She was also a member of the “Post Prandial Singers,” a madrigal group that formed and met at their house on Monday nights. More than once, she had a lead role in a “grass roots” play group that put on Gilbert and Sullivan productions in the living room of the Harris home.

She had a deep love of nature and was well versed in naming plants, wildflowers, and birds; often toting field guides in order to research and identify them. She also dabbled in learning the art of pottery, creating artful pieces still present in her home, and numerous bowls for use in her and Jack’s Wisconsin cottage(s) and winter escape in Tucson, AZ.

When Jack retired, she began doing a dierent kind of volunteering, by picking up trash along her walking routes. She would dress it up by saying that she was out titivating. She received the Watershed Excellence Award for doing so in her Minnesota neighborhood and even got a moment in the sun on one of the local TV stations in the Twin Cities. She did this for well over 30 years.

She was incredibly well read, always said if she had to do it all over again she would have been a research librarian, and was in at least 3 book clubs over the course of her life. One has been in existence for 52 years. Many hours were spent in conversation and presentation, as she would often present to the club about their current book choice. Her most recent club was of only two people, with a very dear friend in the Assisted Living facility in which she lived for eight years in Oakdale, MN.

Georgie faced life with humor and sass, and a lot of what we might call spunk. When asked recently what she found to be her most important legacy, she replied “humor.” She could be quite hilarious and brought laughter to all who knew her. A favorite story was reported the day after a party that she had attended. She said that she had watched a rather striking woman walk through the room, and at the same time, observed two men on the other side of the room, watching said woman and making comments to each other about her. Georgie, without skipping a beat, crossed the room, leaned in to the men and said “I can read lips and I know what you just said.” And then she walked away (she did not know, in fact, how to read lips). Once, when shopping with one of her daughters in a department store, they were both trying on sunglasses and being silly. A snooty salesperson came up and asked if there was anything he could do for them. She said, “you could applaud!” And, as we sat vigil with her in the hospice chapter of her incredible life’s journey, she recounted a story of driving in a frustrated state of mind because of “the irritants in the back seat.” She had a natural sense to bring out the best in everyone; another important part of her legacy, that her daughters try to carry on in their own ways.

Georgie created the acronym APIHOR for herself, which stands for A Person In Her Own Right; she most certainly was! A dear Appleton neighbor said “she either had us laughing or thinking or activating - for a cause or for our own good.” It was in the community that she nurtured beautiful friendships over more than a half century in the Fox Valley, most of whom were strong women and people in their own right, and who were adept at keeping up with her intelligent wit and humor. Anyone close enough fully understands how, (and why), she ended up with the nickname “Redhen.”

A celebration of life gathering is pending and, in lieu of flowers or gifts, we welcome you in donating to The Nature Conservancy in her memory.

https://preserve.nature.org/page/81523/donate