Former professor Joan Harris dies from illness
Frances Joan Ricks Harris, Ph.D., died December 15 in hospice care
at Sherril House in Boston. Her death was the result of a series
of illnesses, her family said.
Known as “Joan,” (pronounced as Joann), her career as
a secretary ranged from that of a medical secretary at the University
of Chicago during the early to mid 1950s to another position at
the California Institute of Technology from 1958 to 1965. At Caltech,
Dr. Harris served as secretary for Dr. Linus Pauling during the
period that he was opposed by the U.S. Government for his efforts
to mobilize international support to end atmospheric nuclear testing;
work for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1962.
While working with Dr. Pauling, she attended California State College
at Los Angeles to complete the undergraduate degree that she had
begun at Oberlin College, majoring in sociology. She then pursued
her master’s degree at Cal-State LA in sociology. Her 1965
thesis, titled, “Ethnicity and Socio-Economic Status as Factors
in Patterns of Child-Rearing Among Working Mothers,” anticipated
an academic career of applied sociology, highlighting quantitative
analysis. Dr. Harris began her teaching career at Pacific Oaks College
and held several research positions at the University of California
at Los Angeles, where she participated in studies assessing the
Model Cities programs, amongst others.
In 1968, Dr. Harris matriculated at the Florence Heller School,
Brandeis University to pursue a Ph. D. where she translated her
early interest in medical sociology into a specialization. Once
she finished the requisite course work and while writing her dissertation,
she taught at several universities, including UMass Boston, the
Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and Howard University.
Joan’s dissertation was titled, “Black/White and Socioeconomic
Status as Factors in Maternal Attitudes Toward Childrearing Practices
and the Use of Health Care in Families with and without an Educable
Mentally Retarded Child;” she received her doctorate in 1977.
Following her graduation from Brandeis, Dr. Harris continued to
teach at Howard University. She also served as an executive of the
American Sociology Association where she was responsible for highlighting
the work of sociologists of color. Her final teaching position was
at Washington State University. Upon her retirement in 1988, she
relocated to suburban Maryland where she continued a limited consulting
practice. Following her mother’s death in 1997, she returned
to Boston to be closer to her children and grandchildren. She became
an active member of the Harvard Institute for Learning in Retirement
in Cambridge and a committed member of First and Second Unitarian
Church in Boston.
Dr. Harris was born July 31, 1928 in Chicago. Her parents, Ernest
Ricks, a dentist, and her mother, Marcella Walker, a career librarian,
divorced. Her mother raised her in Chicago while maintaining a close
relationship between father and daughter. Her mother subsequently
married Lewis A. McGee, a Unitarian minister and religious humanist;
he served as a strong influence in developing her sense of ethics
and appreciation of humanism.
Dr. Harris married Allen “Greg” Harris, a nationally
known journalist, in 1947. Although this marriage ended in divorce,
it yielded two children: Elizabeth and David. Dr. Harris is survived
by her daughter Liz Harris and her husband, Edward Dugger III of
Boston and their children, Cyrus, Langston and Chloe Dugger: and
by her son David Harris, and his wife Janet Walton of Medford and
their son Quentin Lewis Walton Harris. She is also survived by her
stepbrother, Ret. Col. Charles McGee of Bethesda, Md.
A Memorial Service will be held at First and Second Church of Boston,
66 Marlborough Street, Boston at 11 a.m., January 28, 2006. In lieu
of flowers the family requests contributions be made to the UUA-David
Eaton Scholarship Fund, 25 Beacon St., Boston, MA 02108.
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