Harriet R. Sorlin

Born at Concord Memorial Hospital for Women and Children on May 21, 1930, she was the second child of Irene Lord and husband Francis O. Richardson. When she was quite young, she and her siblings and mother went to live with their maternal grandparents Emma (Kimball) and Harry Lord on South Spring Street in Concord. Her mother later married Robert Colby of Bow, NH, and the family relocated to 257 South Street in Concord where the children lived throughout their high school years.

Harriet was a very intelligent child and skipped one year in grade school. She graduated Salutatorian of the Concord High School class of 1947. While in school, she was active in music and sports. She played the French Horn all through her school years and was selected to play in the New Hampshire Youth Festival Band. She played for a short period in Nevers Band. Harriet sang alto in the school choir. In sports, she played basketball and was on the bowling team. In 1947, she was selected by the faculty to represent Concord High School in the statewide citizenship contest sponsored by Daughters of the American Revolution. She was Secretary of the Concord Youth Council, and active in the youth groups of the Concord Unitarian Church.

After high school graduation, Harriet enrolled in the Executive Secretarial Program at Becker Junior College in Worcester, Mass., where she graduated with Honors in June of 1949. While at Becker, she continued her singing with the choir of the Worcester Unitarian Church. She took advantage of some special courses offered to Becker students at nearby Worcester Polytechnic Institute. She played basketball for the Becker girls’ team, being named Captain in her senior year. She was noted for her wicked jump shot developed from her years at Concord High. She was Vice President of her graduating class. Upon graduation, the President of Becker College hired her as his personal secretary.

In August of 1951, she met Ken who would become her life partner. They were married on September 12, 1953. Over the next few years they lived in Lynn, Mass., Pittsfield Mass., Philadelphia PA., Hudson Falls NY., and Rome, GA. It was in Rome that Harriet gave birth to her first child. Despite the many moves, she always found a job in her chosen secretarial field.

They finally settled for a long period in the Glens Falls/Lake George area of New York, where she had two more children. While raising her three daughters, she also managed to take on the position of Secretary to Temple Beth El, a job she held for 18 years. In addition, she worked tax season for H&R Block in Glens Falls and later in Concord, NH. Her tax work finished as a volunteer preparer with AARP.

Upon retirement, Harriet and Ken built a new home and moved to Canterbury, NH where they lived for 20 years. During this period, Harriet was involved, and became a life member of the Canterbury Ladies Benevolent Society, serving as its treasurer. Harriet and Ken moved into Senior Housing at Havenwood-Heritage Heights in December of 2010.

Harriet enjoyed traveling, camping, sailing, hiking, sewing and playing Bridge. She visited all fifty States, most of Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Peru, Mexico and the Galapagos. Harriet enjoyed the years she sailed her own boat on Lake George, and manned the tiller in such varied places as the Bahamas, Sydney, Australia, Auckland, New Zealand, and Fiji.

She was a terrific mother and enjoyed sewing matching outfits for her three young daughters. As they grew, she was active in Girls Scouts, including leader, Cookie Mom, and First Class Award advisor. She faithfully attended many, many school concerts. Through their annual family camping trips, she helped introduce them to the joys of the great outdoors. And she always tried to make sure they used perfect grammar in anything they said or wrote.

She was predeceased by her sister Jeanette Anderson of Concord. Sadly, the whereabouts of her brother Elmer Richardson and his family is unknown.

She is survived by her devoted husband Ken after a long and wonderful marriage of 66 years. She leaves behind her daughters Debra Robey and husband Raymond of Madison, Wisconsin, Janet Sorlin-Davis of Woodbridge, Virginia, and Linda Auffredou and husband Martin of Queensbury, New York. She leaves eight grandchildren; Kimberley Davis and Alison Robey, Christopher, Rebecca, Gregory and Melissa Auffredou, Angie Wheeler and James Sorlin-Davis, one great-grandson Mac Ryan Auffredou, and two great-granddaughters Danielle and Chaselyn Wheeler.

A celebration of life will be held in December at Havenwood. The service information will be place up on www.bennettfuneral.com.

In lieu of flowers memorial contributions may be made in Harriet’s name to the Alzheimer’s Foundation of American by visiting their website, https://alzfdn.org or by mail, 322 8th Avenue, 16th Floor, New York, NY 10001.