Nora Raupers Harris, 64 of Medford, OR passed away Wednesday October 11, 2017 at Fern Gardens Memory Care Facility in Medford. Nora was born on February 25, 1953 in Buffalo, New York & was soon adopted by Ellen "Mamie" Keifer & Charles Raupers. After graduating from high school, she traveled to Europe then returned home to the States after about a month. Nora started college at Penn State but later decided to travel to California for business school & learn secretarial skills. Nora obtained employment at Tri-Valley Growers in San Francisco and worked there for several years. She enjoyed the arts, going to museums, concerts, plays and movies. She met her future husband, Williams Harris while at a symphony concert at the Opera House. They were married December 28, 1977. Soon after their marriage, Nora went back to college at San Francisco State University and majored in English. When she graduated, she was valedictorian for her class. She then was accepted into the Master's program in English. Bill and Nora welcomed their daughter Anne on July 4, 1980. The family lived in the Bay Area for the next ten years before moving to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was during this time that Nora decided to become a Librarian and enrolled in the Master's Program at the University of Pittsburgh. She obtained her Master's in June 1995. Because there were few library jobs open in this area, the family moved back to Marin County, California in 1995. Nora rose through the ranks very quickly and became Head Librarian at Fairfax in 1999. During 2002-2009, Nora began to learn about indexing books and started her own home business. Nora & Bill traveled to many beautiful places including, Antarctica, New Zealand, Greece/Turkey, South Africa, Greece/Crete and to Victoria and the Tetons. In 2009, Nora was diagnosed with early on-set Alzheimer's Disease. The couple became involved in the Northern California Alzheimer's Association support groups & attended these for two years until moving to Ashland, Oregon in 2011. Ashland was a comforting place for Nora, as they had visited the Shakespeare Festival for over 30 years and it was familiar to her. Nora was truly a bright person. She has been an inspiration to many. She is survived by her husband, William "Bill" Harris, daughter, Anne Gibson Harris, and her father, Charles Raupers. She was preceded in death by her mother, Mamie and brother Fred. In leiu of flowers please make contributions to the Alzheimer's Association: http://www.alz.org/donate_overview.asp
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