Jean Thomson Harris
Jean Thomson Harris | |
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Paul P. Harris |
Jean Thomson Harris (6 November 1881 – 9 November 1963) was the wife of
Early life
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0e/Jean_Thomson_Harris_%2811820842765%29.jpg/220px-Jean_Thomson_Harris_%2811820842765%29.jpg)
She was born in 1881 at 9 Cumberland Street, in the
After leaving school, Jean worked as a lady's maid for a number of families in Edinburgh.[3]
Married life
Along with other members of her family,[3] Jean moved to the US, where her sister already lived, in order to work as a nanny.[1]
In Chicago she met Paul Harris,[3][4] whom she married on 2 July 1910.[1]
The couple bought a house on Longwood Drive in Morgan Park, a suburb of Chicago, and named it Comely Bank, after the area in Edinburgh where Jean had lived as a child.[2][3]
Impact on Rotary
A month after their marriage, Paul was elected President of the national Rotary organisation, with Chesley Perry as secretary.[4] Jean recalled "We wives played a very small part at convention in those days; our young men were struggling to find themselves."[4]
When Paul began to take time off from his job as a lawyer to travel to Rotary conventions, Jean accompanied him.[4]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8e/Jean_Thomson_Harris_and_Paul_Harris_in_Buenos-aires-in_1936.jpg/220px-Jean_Thomson_Harris_and_Paul_Harris_in_Buenos-aires-in_1936.jpg)
In 1934 Jean and Paul were invited to visit the Rotary Club of Edinburgh, where the Lord Provost invited Paul to speak as guest of honour at the Assembly of the Lord Provosts of Scotland.[5]
Whilst on a Rotary visit to Melbourne, Australia, Paul was tired and asked Jean to speak on his behalf, which she did.[4]
Jean became a member of the
Later life and death
After Harris died in 1947, Jean briefly continued to live at Comely Bank but then sold the house and returned to her native Edinburgh,[2] and died in Scotland on 9 November 1963.[1][3]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5c/Grave_of_Jean_Thomson_Harris_%2826729884196%29.jpg/220px-Grave_of_Jean_Thomson_Harris_%2826729884196%29.jpg)
She is buried in Newington Cemetery, Edinburgh.[1][2]
Memorials
A plaque was erected at her birthplace at 9 Cumberland Street, Edinburgh, by the Rotary Club St Louis (No 11), Missouri, US.[1][3]
Another memorial is found on the gate of Newington Cemetery, Edinburgh, where she is buried.[3]
Jean is mentioned in Rotary literature in many countries.
References
- ^ OCLC 24699879.
- ^ a b c d e "Newington Cemetery - Jean Thomson Harris (1881 - 1963)". www.newington-cemetery.org.uk. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Memorial to Jean Thomson Harris | Mapping Memorials to Women in Scotland". womenofscotland.org.uk. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
- ^ )
- ^ "Jean Thomson Harris". www.rghfhome.org. Retrieved 5 April 2019.