Woolsey, Harriet Runion
MADISON -
Harriet Woolsey, age 93, died peacefully at the Attic Angel
Nursing Home in Middleton, on Saturday, May 13, 2006. Although her
mobility, engagement and activities had been declining in recent years she
still smiled, painted abstract art and offered comments to many she
recognized in her family and as longtime acquaintances. A resident of
Madison for more than 57 years, Harriet was well known to many. Her
leadership in several local organizations including the Attic Angels,
Madison Friends of International Students and the University League was
significant as were her national efforts on behalf of the Johns Hopkins
School of Nursing. She enjoyed a wide circle of friends in Madison,
throughout this country and all over the world. Harriet Runion was born in
German Valley near Freeport, Ill., where here parents lived when her
father attended the Garrett Biblical Institute at Northwestern. She grew
up in middle Kansas, where her mother, Ella, and father, Harris, had been
raised. A Methodist minister, her father served many churches in different
towns including Trenton, Mo., where she finished high school in 1930.
After graduating from Baker University (her father's alma mater) in
Baldwin City, Kan., she entered the Johns Hopkins Hospital School of
Nursing, Baltimore, Md., in February 1935. She became a nurse in early
1938, and worked briefly at the St. Louis Maternity Hospital, but was
recruited back to Johns Hopkins in 1939. At nursing school, Harriet won a
number of scholarships and awards including a scholarship for a year at
the Teachers College at Columbia University in New York. She matriculated
there in 1940, returning to Baltimore in June 1941, as teaching supervisor
in Pediatrics. When World War II commenced, she and others at Hopkins
prepared to go to the Pacific Theatre to care for wounded soldiers.
However, she had met Clinton N. Woolsey (deceased in 1993) and the two
were married on May 24, 1942. They lived in Baltimore, where she bore
three sons each in the month of April, each two years apart. When Clint
was appointed Charles Sumner Sclichter Professor of Neurophysiology at the
University of Wisconsin in 1948, the young Woolsey family moved to
Madison. As a child, Harriet learned to play the piano and pipe organ that
she mastered by practicing four hours a day. She liked particularly to
play Chopin to relax after dinner. She was an accomplished seamstress
making slipcovers for furniture and clothes for her boys. And she was an
innovative knitter, quilter and embroiderer. An excellent cook, Harriet
taught two of her sons to make her renowned apple pies (it was in the
crust). She organized annual picnics and Christmas parties for the large
and diverse group of scientists and technical specialists working in the
Laboratory of Neurophysiology. She and Clint traveled widely visiting
Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand and South America. Harriet made
friends everywhere with whom she subsequently corresponded throughout her
life. Her sense of humor, work ethic and ease in almost all settings made
her a popular figure for all who knew her. The proximity of the Woolsey
home to West High School made her house a favorite and frequent stopping
place for the friends of her sons and the children of her friends. Harriet
is survived by sons, Thomas A. (Cynthia) of St. Louis, Mo., John D.
(Bette) of Philadelphia, Pa., Edward A. of Madison; four grandchildren;
and two great-grandchildren. Her cremated remains were interred beside
Clinton's in Forest Hill Cemetery. A celebration of her life will held at
the lower shelter in Hoyt Park from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday July
22, 2006. Contact can be made through Edward A. Woolsey, 3802 Dawes St.,
Madison, WI 53714. e.a.woolsey@mailbag.com.
Memorials can be made to charities of the person's choosing.
Cress Funeral & Cremation Service
3610 Speedway Road
(608) 238-3434
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