June was born in Gilmore City, Iowa on June 8th, 1934 to Hazel and Clifford Warren. She grew up on a small 5-acre farm on the edge of Gilmore City with trees to read books in and cats to snuggle with. She went to Elementary and High School in the Gilmore City Schools. After High School, she went to Iowa State Teachers College, in Cedar Falls, Iowa and received a Teaching Degree in 1954. While studying for this degree, she met Ed Harris who would become her husband in August 1954. June and Ed had two Children. Jon was born in 1958 and Jeanne, born in 1962. She continued her education and received a BA in Education from the University of Northern Iowa in 1964. June and Ed moved to Cedar Falls in 1969 where Ed took a position with the Art Department at the University of Northern Iowa. It was while living here, that June found her lifelong love of flying at Ranch Aero, a small grass strip airport, in Waterloo. She earned her Private Pilot’s License in March of 1974 and from that point on she was hooked by Aviation. She continued her flight training and earned her Commercial Pilot Certificate in February of 1976; Instrument Rating in February 1977; Certified Flight Instructor Certificate in October 1977 and an Instrument Flight Instructor Certificate in September of 1978. While she was doing this training, she worked in the office of the Ranch Aero Flight School which had moved from the grass strip on the east side of Waterloo, to the Waterloo Municipal Airport in 1972. For a private pilot student, who did not like stalls, she fell in love with aerobatics and has many hours of doing loops and rolls. In 1977, she was one of a very small number of Female Flight Instructors in the Midwest. June logged about 2000 hours of total flight time and 1100 hours of flight instructing time. After Ranch Aero, she went to work for the State of Iowa Department of Education in 1979. As a Veterans Ed Flight School Consultant, she inspected flight schools that offered GI Bill flight training. She then took a position with the State of Iowa Aids Education program and later took a position in the Department of Education - Career Information System of Iowa. While at the Department of Education she continued her education and received a Master’s Degree in Industrial Engineering from Iowa State University in 1991. In 1998, she retired from the State of Iowa. In retirement, June liked to figure skate; traveled around the world; spent time with her 8 grandchildren; 6 great grandchildren and, of course, continued to fly. With her love of books, along with her desire to support this cause; June was also heavily involved with the Planned Parenthood Book Sale here in Des Moines.
June loved life and was always up for an adventure. She was a very strong woman in an all man’s world but was always humble and had a good sense of humor. There were many ways to make her smile, but putting her in an airplane and saying, “Your Plane!” would work every time.
June is survived by her daughter Jeanne and her husband, Michael; son Jon and wife Shannon, her grandchildren Chandelle, Whitney, Jon II, Breguet, Avion, Curtiss, Meghan, and Katherine and her Great Grandchildren Anna, Ysabell, Lili, Lincoln, Elliott, Lilly. She was preceded in death by her husband, Ed, along with both her brother, Eldon; sister, Edith and nephew, Elliott.
A Celebration of Life will be held Saturday, February 17th, 2018 from 12pm to 2pm at the Ankeny Funeral Home, 1510 W. First Street, Ankeny, Iowa 50023. A Burial Ceremony will immediately follow the Celebration of Life at the Ankeny Memorial Gardens, 4208 North Ankeny Blvd • Ankeny, IA 50023
Goodnight Gracie!
We Love You!
In lieu of flowers the family would like people to donate in Junes name to:
Planned Parenthood of the Heartland https://www.plannedparenthood.org/planned-parenthood-heartland
Breast Cancer Research Foundation https://www.bcrf.org
Unity Point Foundation (Iowa Methodist Medical Center) https://www.unitypoint.org/desmoines/online-donation
SHARE OBITUARY
v.1.8.18