Joan Wolf Harris

She had an older brother, Jack.

Growing up, Joan was very close to her two special aunts, Martha and Ann. Aunt Ann taught her how to sew. Aunt Martha taught her about giving to others without expecting anything in return. As a child, she enjoyed what she called gifts from God: her athletic ability, her loving and caring parents, good health and Christian friends, and her [lovely] voice. She loved singing in the church choir. And it was during her youth that she developed her passion for reading which persisted into adulthood. Her mom would often buy her titles off the “Best Seller” list.

Joan attended Concordia Lutheran Schools and after graduating from high school she went on to train as a nurse. It was while she was in nurses training that she met a handsome young intern from Canada named Don Harris. They loved to tell the story of how they met “catching babies.” Don and Joan were married in 1955 and moved to San Francisco where they both worked at Saint Mary’s Help Hospital.

They were blessed with three children, Karen, Stuart and Brad (B.J.). About the time B.J. was born, Don and Joan bought their home in Los Altos, where they lived for 40 years.

Joan was a very dedicated and gifted homemaker. Through Karen’s elementary school years, most all her school dresses were made by her mom. She made such wonderful lunches that her kids rarely wanted to buy meals at school. Every meal and dessert she made was from scratch – meat from the butcher and vegetables were usually fresh from Ted’s produce store.

Karen, Stu and Brad were all on the Foothill Aquatic Club swim team so mom spent many hours driving them to and from practices and swim meets (which were often quite a distance away. Brad also swam for Los Altos High School and remembers hearing mom’s voice yelling for him as he swam the hundred-yard backstroke. She did have a passion for watching sports, be it live swim meets and Stanford football games, or football, basketball and Olympics on television. She both encouraged and modeled the pleasure and discipline of physical exercise. She logged many miles daily swimming morning laps in their backyard pool in Los Altos, and then walking many miles when she and Don moved to Happy Valley in 1999. The move also afforded her the fun also of being able to cheer at her grandsons’ sporting events.

She spent a number of years volunteering with the Women’s League, where she served as president for a couple of terms. They were very active raising charitable funds through projects such as the “Costume Bank,” where they would creatively repurpose donated fancy clothes into costumes to rent. She also learned how to transcribe music into Braille and spent parts of her days at home for a few years at her seven key Braille “puncher” machine. And she later spent time working in her husband’s office (he even payed her!)

Through the years Joan’s cooking and baking evolved from simple and fresh (meat and vegetables) to complex and gourmet (Stu remembers “loose hamburger” on white bread with ketchup, which seemed pretty gourmet to us kids at the time.) But after she began making Beef Wellington for holidays, well, there was no going back. She learned to grind her own flour as well as meat. She was not afraid to clean and prepare squid. She would bake the most wonderful breads, which were often warm from the oven just as the kids were coming home from school. Her pies were to die for. Everything she made was delicious and beautiful. As a result, all three kids are creative and confident in the kitchen. It was a special experience to help mom with holiday dinners. Brad loved the bonus that if you helped make the dinner, you didn’t have to do the dishes afterward.

Joan was very talented in many needle arts. She was never content to merely dabble in a skill. She would spend time and energy learning and practicing and becoming proficient. She was a seamstress, a knitter, a quilter (always by hand!) and a prolific needlepoint artist.

Her many creations graced their home and were made to be given as gifts.

When Don and Joan retired and moved to Happy Valley in 1999. Karen and Scott loved Mom and Dad living so close and being able to share so much of their lives and times together. Joan found great joy in both her new Oregon home and her new church home at Spring Mountain Bible Church. Here she found new friends with whom she could freely share her faith.

Joan loved her family and she loved God with all her heart.

She is greatly missed by her three children and their spouses, five grandchildren and their spouses, and five great grandchildren.