Harry Fehr Booth

1927 - 2022

Harry Fehr Booth

December 17, 1927- December 01, 2022

Harry Fehr Booth was born in 1927 in Boston, MA. He died peacefully in Carlisle, PA, on December 1, 2022, at home with his wife of 37 years, Ann Heermans-Booth. He was son to Edwin Prince Booth and Elizabeth Gertrude Fehr Booth; brother to Edwin Bray Booth and Francis Booth; father to David Alexander Booth, Helen Elizabeth (Nell) Booth, John Francis Booth (d. 2022), and Paul Edwin Booth; grandfather to Helen McGary Booth-Tobin, Jane West Booth-Tobin, and Elijah Aaron Afanasy Booth; and great grandfather to Elizabeth (Ellie) West Peterson. He was previously married to Jean Daniels Booth Rankin and to Martha Hopkins Booth.

He studied Classics and Philosophy at Harvard College (AB 1949). He studied social ethics at Boston University School of Theology (PhD 1962).

He was a gifted musician with a fine tenor voice. As a young man he sang solo recitals, and leading roles in community opera companies. He continued to perform more casually from time to time, and a love of vocal music marked his life. Also, as a young man he was a gifted athlete who enjoyed many sports. He remained a fan, particularly of the Boston Red Sox, to the end.

His teaching career was defined by long service to Dickinson College, from 1964 until his retirement in 1993. Though trained in theology, his approach to the study of religion was encompassing, cosmopolitan, and multi-disciplinary. A care for social ethics, exemplified in his admiration for Dietrich Bonhoeffer, lent coherence to his wide-ranging interests. He was a beloved teacher and colleague whose most celebrated courses involved religious themes in literature, history, and the arts. He loved collaboration with colleagues across the campus, and cherished team-teaching in thematic courses across the arts and sciences. He and Ann spent two happy years leading Dickinson's program at the University of East Anglia, in Norwich, England.

He was a notable conversationalist-quick, amiable, insightful, and generous. In retirement he sustained weekly conversations with two separate groups of friends. One read and discussed books from every quarter; Harry took equal delight in the books and in the friendships. The other group grappled with the dismaying politics of recent days. He happily cultivated the beauty of land and home on Ridge Drive, tending the corner of the world he shared with Ann to make it a place of welcome.

His children and grandchildren remember his steadfast, attentive, non-judgmental love.

A private service is being held on December 17th 2022 on what would have been his 95th birthday, and a celebration of his life is being planned on the Dickinson campus during Alumni Weekend in early June 2023.

Contributions in his memory may be made to an organization of your choice advancing social justice or to the Harry F. Booth Prize in Religion online at Dickinson.edu/gift or by mail: Office of Advancement, Dickinson College, P.O. Box 1773, 28 North College Street, Carlisle, PA 17013. (To designate a gift for this fund, write "Harry F. Booth Prize in Religion" in the comment section of the gift form.)

Arrangements Entrusted to Hoffman Funeral Home and Crematory 2020 W. Trindle Rd Carlisle, PA 17013. You can sign the Guestbook for the family at HoffmanFH.com