LACONIA --- Barbara B. Harris, 97, died peacefully on Friday, July 8th, 2022, after some special moments with her four children.
She was born in Brooklyn, NY, on September 27, 1924, the daughter of Waldemar Henry Busing and Alice Wilmarth Thompson Busing.
The family moved to Scarsdale, NY in 1927. Barb spent summers in Sayville, Long Island with her Thompson grandparents or at Camp Quinibeck in Vermont, which she loved. She graduated from Scarsdale High School in 1942 with her senior year marked by the attack on Pearl Harbor, sinking of ships in the Atlantic and the start of gas rationing. In September of 1942, she entered Middlebury College, and in the first week there, met her future husband, George Stiles Harris, Jr., always called “Pete.” She remained ever true to Middlebury, although wartime took her to New York City to Barnard College from which she graduated in January 1946.
Barb and Pete were married on June 9, 1945, in the Scarsdale Presbyterian Hitchcock Memorial Church, the church of her childhood. Pete was still in the army, and the government, fearing a shortage of doctors, sent him to the University of Rochester Medical School. Consequently, the next years took them to many places as Pete trained and started practice as a pediatrician: New Haven and Southbury, CT; Washington, DC; New Rochelle and Scarsdale, NY. Raising their kids kept Barb very busy, ferrying them to lessons and meetings, teaching Sunday school, and leading a Girl Scout troop.
In 1962, Pete joined the Laconia Clinic, and the family moved to Belknap Mountain Road in Gilford, NH with their four children. They joined the Gilford Community Church where Barbara served on several committees, including the 1974 committee which established the Village Nursery School. In 1972, the couple bought a 60-acre farm in Sanbornton, NH. Oak Hill Farm was the perfect gathering spot for Barb and Pete’s growing family, and many joyful memories were made on that hill.
Barbara loved raising her four children, planting and caring for gardens, and leading Girl Scout troops in Scarsdale and Gilford. She served as the Neighborhood Chairman of the Girl Scouts for Laconia and Gilford and on the Swiftwater Girl Scout Council in Manchester. The Gilford years meant many beautiful days of sailing on Lake Winnipesaukee and skiing at the Gilford Outing Club and Gunstock. Music meant the world to her. Barbara and Pete were longtime supporters of the New Hampshire Music Festival and appreciative attendees at the summer concerts. Both sang in the Pemigewasset Choral Society and in several church choirs over the years.
In 1976, Pete and Barbara left the Lakes Region to work at Northfield Mount Hermon School in Massachusetts. He was the school physician and she worked in the school library. With her love of books, she started an out-of-print book business locating books sought after by many customers both in this country and abroad. Upon Pete’s retirement, they returned to Sanbornton and then to Gilford, where Barbara served as a Trustee of the Gilford Library, and finally, after moving to the Taylor Community in 2001, she was instrumental in establishing the Woodside Library. Always a voracious reader, she was a longtime book group member. For the past 21 years, Barbara has called the Taylor Community home, thoroughly enjoying all it has to offer. She played bridge, tended a small garden, wrote her memoirs, led a poetry group, worked on family genealogy, attended numerous musical events, and treasured her friendships. Her family is deeply grateful to everyone at Taylor for their support of Barbara in her last years and superb nursing care in her final hours.
Barbara was predeceased by her parents, her husband, and her two brothers: William R. Busing of Oak Ridge, TN and David W. Busing of Hartsdale, NY.
She is survived by her four children, Anne Onion (Perry) of Gilmanton, NH; Martha Dolben (Donald) of Concord, MA and Bridgewater, NH; Dr. Peter Harris (Louise Federspiel) of Derby, VT; and Ellen Swiggett (Jeffrey) of Madison, CT.
She is also survived by ten grandchildren: Sarah Alford of York, ME; Rebecca Onion of Athens, OH; Joshua Onion of Homer, AK; Megan Batchelder of Elmore, VT; Amanda Townsley of Simsbury, CT; Abigail Mallory of Ketchum, ID; Zakary Pritchard of Santa Monica, CA; Katharine Swiggett-Craven of Baltimore, MD; Tyler Swiggett of New York, NY; and Callie Petzing of Baton Rouge, LA; and eleven great grandchildren.
If you desire, memorial gifts may be made to the Circle Program, PO Box 815, Plymouth, NH 03264; Lakes Region Mental Health Center, 40 Beacon St E, Laconia, NH 03246; or Gilford Community Church, 19 Potter Hill Road, Gilford, NH 03249.
Or, in her spirit, tend a garden, write a poem, feed the birds, read a book, sing a favorite song, pass on your family’s history, and be generous to your favorite charity.
There will be no calling hours.
A Memorial Service will be held at 1:00pm, on Saturday, August 13, 2022, at the Gilford Community Church, 19 Potter Hill Road, Gilford, NH.
Wilkinson-Beane-Simoneau-Paquette Funeral Home & Cremation Services and 603Cremations.com, 164 Pleasant St., Laconia, NH, 03246 is assisting the family with arrangements. For more information and to view an online memorial, please visit www.wilkinsonbeane.com.