Henrietta Jones Harris

Henrietta Jones Harris 1921 ~ 2009 Henrietta Jones Harris, age 87, passed away May 16, 2009, at her home in Salt Lake City, of natural causes.She is survived by her husband of 66 years, Richard Henry Harris (Dick), whom she married in 1943, in the Salt Lake Temple, and by her four children: Richard Henry Harris Jr., of San Francisco; Sue Harris Glenn, of Albuquerque; Mark Thomas Harris, of Salt Lake City; and Nancy Harris Jones of Park City; 12 grandchildren and 13 great-grand-children. Henrietta was born August 21, 1921, in Cedar City, Utah, the youngest child of Henry Lunt and Artemesia Gardner Jones; both of her parents were of Southern Utah pioneer families. She graduated from the Branch Agricultural College (now Southern Utah University) and finished her degree in education in 1943 at Utah State University, where she graduated Phi Beta Phi. She taught school in Provo while she and Dick prepared for graduate school which took them to Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. They remained in California for six decades, living in Menlo Park and LaJolla, with the exception of 10 years in Logan, Utah, where she returned to Utah State University to pursue her dream of becoming a landscape architect. She finished among the leaders of her class and went on to design landscapes for churches, public buildings and private residences in the greater San Diego area. Henrietta was a life-long active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She taught in all the auxiliaries and held leadership positions in Relief Society and Primary. She shared her many artistic and musical talents freely and served others tirelessly. She loved music and was an accomplished cellist, playing in symphony orchestras, chamber ensembles and stringed quartets, for audiences in concert halls and soup kitchens, until a stroke in 2005 rendered her hands too weak to play any longer. Henrietta enjoyed quilting and sewing, and her grandchildren, friends and charities were recipients of her handiwork. As a stake Relief Society president she organized quilt displays and demonstrations at community fairs, made quilts for hospitals and shelters, and helped immigrants to the San Diego area improve their sewing skills and market their work for the benefit of their families. In 1991, Henrietta and Dick traveled to Beijing, for an assignment with the Foreign Languages Press. Henrietta's talents were utilized at the university where many students not only took her English classes but learned western landscaping as well. Upon their return, they served as ordinance workers in the Oakland and San Diego Temples and were missionaries in Julian, California. Henrietta was a devoted wife, mother and friend, who loved and sustained her husband, inspired and instructed her children and grandchildren, and kept her friends close. She will be an enduring presence to them all. Funeral services will be held Friday, May 22, 2009 at 10 a.m. at Larkin Mortuary, 260 E. South Temple where a viewing will be held Thursday 6-8 p.m. and one hour prior to the service. Interment will follow at the Brigham City Cemetery. The Harris family extends its deepest thanks to their friends in the Thirteenth Ward for their watchful care and to the compassionate and capable caregivers of Love Healthcare and Hospice.