Ruth-Ann Mellish Harris, age 76 passed away suddenly on September 5, 2012 at Beth Israel Hospital. She was born to missionary parents in Liberia West Africa on March 11, 1936. She lived with her grandparents in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and grauduated from Branksome Hall School. She attended Wheaton College (IL) and later completed BA, MA, and Phd degrees at Tufts University. In 1954 she married John R. Harris and they enjoyed a marriage that flourished for 58 years and one day. She is survived by her beloved husband and their three children, Catherine Harris of Woodbury, Vermont; Dorothy Harris of Rochester, New Hampshire; and Rees Harris of Shelburne, Vermont. She reveled in her role as a devoted grandmother to Tayler Knopf (Manchester, NH), Sora Harris-Vincent (Jamaica Plain, MA), Alice Giguere (Randolph, MA), Rebecca Giguere (Rochester, NH), Marilla Harris-Vincent (Manhatten Beach, CA), Kaelyn Harris-Vincent (Woodbury, VT), Cameron Harris (Shelburne, VT), and Abigail Harris (Shelburne, VT). An important part in the life of her extended family has been summering at Fenelon Falls, Ontario in a cottage that was built by her grandfather in 1905. It is now being enjoyed by the sixth generation of Mellishes and is shared with her three brothers Hartley of Tampa Florida; Donald of Bollingbrook, Illinois; and Ronald of Cincinnatti, Ohio. She will be sorely missed by numerous cousins, nieces, and nephews who spent time with her at “The Cottage”.
John and Ruth-Ann lived with their family in Illinois and Massachusetts since 1966 with extended periods of time in Ibadan, Nigeria; Nairobi, Kenya; and Jakarta, Indonesia. In Nairobi she taught at Starehe Boys High School which was a transformational experience that caused her to return to complete her higher education. She was the recipient of a Danforth Foundation Fellowship for Mature Women that enabled her to complete her programs at Tufts University. She wrote her Phd disertation on Short term Irish Migration to Britain Prior to the Great Famine. It was published as “The Nearest Place that Wasn’t Ireland”. She was a faculty member in History at Northeastern University where she founded their Irish Studies Program. She later moved to Boston College where she has been a Professor of History and Irish Studies until her death. She is the author of a six volume series on the “Search for Missing Friends” and a related database that is on-line at Boston College as “Information Wanted”. This work was based on advertisements to locate missing friends and relatives which ran in the Boston Pilot from 1826-1916. She is the author of numerous professional papers on Irish Women and Emigration, including “Redefining Patriarchy”. Most recently she has authored a study of the Irish Migration to Boston which will appear in a forthcoming historical atlas of Boston. She was a distinguished visiting professor at Queens University, Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1995, and regularly participated in Academic Conferences in North America, Ireland, and Europe. She also participated in early efforts to bring the opposing parties from the Irish Troubles together in Boston. She has made a lasting impact on the lives of hundreds of former students and colleagues around the world. A Memorial Service is being planned.