Mary Anne Harsh, PhD, passed away on April 11 at the Ohio State University Medical Center. She was 79 years old.
Born in December 1946 in Kalamazoo, Michigan, to Fred B. and Marian A. (Waller) Roberson, Mary Anne spent her early years on the family farm near Plainwell, Michigan. A self-proclaimed tomboy, she learned to drive a tractor at 12, explored the outdoors with abandon and accumulated a few memorable injuries along the way, including a broken arm courtesy of her brother Jim and a rickety hay wagon (he was not pleased). Those early years on the farm shaped a woman who would spend her whole life learning, creating and growing things.
She married her high school sweetheart, Michael A. Harsh, on the longest night of the year in 1966, and the two spent 60 years building a life together. After Mike returned from his service in Vietnam, they made their first home in eastern Massachusetts, where Mary Anne continued her teaching career in English Language Arts. It was during those years that she and Mike discovered a shared love of antiquing — a hobby that became something closer to a calling, taking them across the country by van, filling their home and lives with beautiful things and even better stories. That wandering spirit eventually led them to Knox County, Ohio, where in the winter of 1973–74 they put down roots and purchased the first of two historic homes they would lovingly tend over the years. The van trips continued. Knox County just became the place they always came home to.
Somewhere along that journey, they decided parenthood was for them, and their daughter Molly arrived in May of 1977. Mary Anne was a “modern mother,” and took her young daughter on the road with her on many of her antique adventures in those early years.
Mary Anne was many things: scholar, teacher, gardener, crafter, beader, seamstress, wood-turner, fly-tier and devoted member of the Utica Coffee Club. She was polymath by nature and incessantly curious by temperament. At age 50 she began studying French language and literature with a passion that led her to earn multiple advanced degrees, culminating in her PhD from THE Ohio State University, which she completed at the age of 60. She went on to teach French at Bishop Hartley High School, The Ohio State University, St. Michael’s College and Bowling Green State University. She did not take retirement gently.
In earlier chapters of her life, she founded the Enoch Thompson House, a garden and flower design business in Knox County where she sold perennials and herbs — and dispensed words of wisdom with every purchase. Her garden was, in many ways, an extension of herself. Even after a surgical accident left her unable to walk, Mary Anne never stopped planning. There was always a next adventure, a next project, a next thing to learn or make or tend. That spirit–restless, generous, and deeply alive–never left her.
Mary Anne is survived by her husband and best friend of over six decades, Michael Harsh; her daughter Molly Gutridge and son-in-law Matt; and her seven-year-old grandson Liam, who no doubt inherited at least a little of her curiosity and stubbornness. She is also survived by her sister-in-law Edith (Clint Wheeler) Harsh and brother-in-law William Harsh, both of Michigan. Her memory is cherished by many nieces, nephews, dear friends, a number of “adopted” kids, and the former students who will never forget her.
She was preceded in death by her parents; her brother James Roberson and his wife Debra; and her beloved in-laws, Dala and Cliff Harsh.
The family extends their deepest gratitude to the NCCU team at OSU Medical Center for their extraordinary care and humanity, and to Heather Duffey, who cared for Mary Anne with such devotion over these past two years.
A joyful celebration of Mary Anne’s life will be held at the Kokosing Nature Preserve, 10620 Quarry Chapel Road, Gambier on Saturday, May 2 at Noon. The family will receive friends beginning at 11:00 a.m. and you are invited to come with stories and memories of Mary Anne that help capture her amazing spirit. She did NOT want a funeral (and she never liked going to them) so please no mourning attire! The family will accompany Mary Anne to her final resting place in a private observance.
In lieu of flowers, the family welcomes memorial donations to the Utica Area Foundation Fund at the Licking Co. Foundation or the Philander Chase Conservancy at Kenyon College.
The Snyder Funeral Home – Lasater Chapel is assisting the family with arrangements. www.snyderfuneralhomes.com
Funeral Home: The Snyder Funeral Home – Lasater Chapel
Website: www.snyderfuneralhomes.com