Harriet Richardson Ames ’31
From the time she was in grade school, Harriet Richardson Ames knew she wanted to teach. Through the grace and generosity of the local women’s club, the Barnstead Parade, N.H., native got the money to attend her first year at Keene Normal School. She earned her two-year teaching certificate in 1931 and went off to pursue her dream, eventually landing a position she loved as a teaching principal at the Memorial School in Pittsfield, NH. She taught first grade there for over 20 years until she began to lose her eyesight to cataracts, which forced her to retire in 1971.
Throughout her teaching career, Harriet continued to take classes at UNH, Plymouth State College, and Keene State College to improve herself professionally. She always wanted a B.Ed., and asked during one of her last classes at KSC what she would need to do to complete her degree. The College told her that she just needed to take one course in public speaking. “I was already going around talking to panels; the ladies’ circles had me come, the Rotary had me come – I was already doing public speaking,” Harriet recalled in a interview Film Professor Larry Benaquist recorded when she was 98. Though she wanted to complete that last course, her eyesight was already failing, and she realized she’d have to retire, so she never took that last step.
“She was such a lovely person,” Dr. Benaquist said, “and a beloved teacher. She had a bureau full of letters and testimonies from her former students.”
When Harried celebrated her 100th birthday on January 2, 2010, Norma Walker ’51 visited her to deliver a certificate from KSC President Helen Giles-Gee honoring Harriet’s centenarian status. Harriet’s health was failing, and she was under Hospice care. Norma mentioned that the KSC Advancement Office had recently come across Harriet’s course records and was working to see if the College could award her a B.Ed. “Harriet was so moved that she started to cry,” Norma said. “She asked me if I would read the diploma at her funeral if she didn’t live long enough to accept it herself.”
However, the wheels were turning. Word of Harriet’s dying wish reached President Giles-Gee, who requested that the offices of the provost and registrar act quickly to see if Harriet had done the work to earn the degree. After a flurry of calls to the institutions where she had taken courses to verify her credits and professional experience, Keene State determined that, yes, Harriet Richardson Ames had indeed completed the requirements for a Bachelor of Education, and the degree was granted. This was not an honorary degree; Harriet was reviewed through the same process every KSC student goes through – the College made no special exceptions for her, save speeding up the verification process. Norma; Sean Gillery ’89, from the Development Office; and Kay MacLean, from the Alumni & Parent Relations Office, drove the document to Harriet’s bedside on Friday, January 22. Harriet died the next day.
Norma recalled that, during one of her earlier visits, “Harriet said she was perturbed with God because he wouldn’t take her when she wanted to go.” Fortunately, Harriet held on long enough to learn that she’d been granted her dying wish.
Her memorial service will be held at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday Feb. 9, at Havenwood in Concord, N.H. (33 Christian Ave., phone: 603-224-5363).
If you remember Harriet, please leave us a comment about her.
In this video, recorded by Larry Benaquist and edited by Kevin Sweet, Harriet explains why she never took the last step to finish her degree.
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