DATE: Friday, July 25, 1997                 TAG: 9707250617

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B8   EDITION: FINAL 

DATELINE: CLARKSVILLE                       LENGTH:   65 lines

DOROTHY J. HARRIS

Dorothy Jones Harris, 79, a former public school teacher and principal of West End High and Bluestone Middle schools in Clarksville died Thursday, July 24, 1997, in South Hill Community Memorial Health Center after a brief illness.

Mrs. Harris, a Portsmouth native, was born July 28, 1917. She was the third of four children, all predeceased, born to Lillian and Earnest A. Jones. Mrs. Harris was a graduate of I.C. Norcom High School in Portsmouth and received her undergraduate degrees in math in the class of 1934 from Talladega College, Talladega, Ala. Mrs. Harris received her master's degree from Virginia State University and did further study at George Peabody College, Nashville, Tenn.

Mrs. Harris, a fixture in the educational community in Mecklenburg County for more than 50 years, began her teaching career upon college graduation when she moved to Mecklenburg County in 1937. Initially, she taught at Mount Ararat School near Clarksville and in 1944 she was named principal of West End High School.

Mrs. Harris held that position until the consolidation of the public schools in 1973. She then served the balance of her career as principal of Bluestone Middle School. She took early retirement in 1979 to attend to the health of her late husband, Robert O. Harris.

Initially recognized as a member of Who's Who in American Women in 1959, Mrs. Harris played an active role in a number of educational, civic, religious, community and social activities.

In 1973, Mrs. Harris was appointed by former Gov. Linwood Holton to serve on the Advisory Council of Vocational Education of the State of Virginia. She subsequently served a six-year term on the board of visitors for Virginia State University in Petersburg, Va. In 1995, she completed an eight-year term as a member of the board of trustees at St. Paul's College, Lawrenceville, Va.

Mrs. Harris served as long-term treasurer of the Mecklenburg County Chapter of the American Red Cross. She was an elections inspector for the Mecklenburg Electric Cooperative. She also served for more than 25 years as a local fund-raising coordinator for the United Negro College Fund. Mrs. Harris served in several local and regional leadership capacities with the Virginia Retired Teachers Association. She was a member of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and served as the local chapter president.

Upon retirement, Mrs. Harris traveled extensively, including trips to China, India and Europe. Additionally, Mrs. Harris made regular trips to the national conventions of her sorority, and the Lott Carey Missionary Convention, where she was a regular presenter.

Locally, Mrs. Harris was active as a member of the Mecklenburg County Chapter of the American Association of Retired Teachers. She served as the secretary of the Bluestone Baptist Missionary Society and was the organist for the Second Baptist Church, Clarksville, for nearly 40 years.

She is survived by a daughter, Judge Lillian Ransom of Philadelphia; son and daughter-in-law, Charles and Lenora Billings-Harris of Greensboro, N.C.; a grandson, Arthur Robert Ransom of Philadelphia; four sisters-in-law, Dorothy and Louise Harris of Danville, Va., Annie Booker of Cumberland, Va., and Grace Harris of Petersburg; 12 nieces and nephews and many special friends and numerous professional colleagues and associates.

Funeral services will be conducted at 11 a.m. Saturday in Bethlehem Baptist Church, Chase City, Va., with the Rev. Harper Greenhowe. Burial will follow in the Harris Family Cemetery, Red Oak, Va. The family will receive friends today from 7 to 8 p.m. at the funeral home. The family requests, in lieu of flowers, that a contribution be made in the name of Dorothy J. Harris to the United Negro College Fund or the American Red Cross. C.H. Harris Funeral Home Inc., Clarksville, is in charge. KEYWORDS: DEATH OBITUARY

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu