Ethel Harris was the 4th daughter (and child) of Samuel Rogers Harris and Rosalie M. Hicks of Deer Crossing, Henderson. She was very musical and played the piano and organ and she was a contralto singer. She graduated from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in the early 1900s, and taught music there until her marriage.
She married George Ransome Kirby in 1918 when she was about 28 years old. He had grown children. The marriage only last a short while, and she divorced him. She moved to Philadelphia and lived with her older sister Myrtle Harris Yerkes and family for a time, before moving to an apartment.
In Philadelphia, she worked for the Veterans Administration for a number of years, and then became executive secretary to the Dean of Teacher's College at Temple University. When she retired she moved back to an apartment on Church Street in Henderson where she directed the church choir and played piano for the Sunday School. She was also a substitute organist for the church. She was a member of the Student Club, the Bird Club and the Delta Kappa Gamma professional honorary society.
She spent her last years in a nursing home near Henderson. According to her niece, Rosalie Yerkes Figge, she thought she had lived to be 100, but when she found she was only 99th, she gave up and died eight days after her birthday.
The funeral was at the First Presbyterian Church with the service conducted by Dr. James B. Storey, assisted by Mrs. Kirby's great-nephew, the Rev. Peter Ross Powell Jr. of Weston CT. Burial was on 6-13-85.
She was survived by her two younger brothers, Samuel Rogers Harris, Jr. of Henderson (also buried in Elmwood Cemetery) and Julian Earl Harris of Madison, WI. Pallbearers were J. W. Crawford, M.T. Jessup, C.S. Tippet, R.G. Kittrell Jr., Bennet H. Perry, Jrs. and George Gouch.
She married George Ransome Kirby in 1918 when she was about 28 years old. He had grown children. The marriage only last a short while, and she divorced him. She moved to Philadelphia and lived with her older sister Myrtle Harris Yerkes and family for a time, before moving to an apartment.
In Philadelphia, she worked for the Veterans Administration for a number of years, and then became executive secretary to the Dean of Teacher's College at Temple University. When she retired she moved back to an apartment on Church Street in Henderson where she directed the church choir and played piano for the Sunday School. She was also a substitute organist for the church. She was a member of the Student Club, the Bird Club and the Delta Kappa Gamma professional honorary society.
She spent her last years in a nursing home near Henderson. According to her niece, Rosalie Yerkes Figge, she thought she had lived to be 100, but when she found she was only 99th, she gave up and died eight days after her birthday.
The funeral was at the First Presbyterian Church with the service conducted by Dr. James B. Storey, assisted by Mrs. Kirby's great-nephew, the Rev. Peter Ross Powell Jr. of Weston CT. Burial was on 6-13-85.
She was survived by her two younger brothers, Samuel Rogers Harris, Jr. of Henderson (also buried in Elmwood Cemetery) and Julian Earl Harris of Madison, WI. Pallbearers were J. W. Crawford, M.T. Jessup, C.S. Tippet, R.G. Kittrell Jr., Bennet H. Perry, Jrs. and George Gouch.
Ethel Harris was the 4th daughter (and child) of Samuel Rogers Harris and Rosalie M. Hicks of Deer Crossing, Henderson. She was very musical and played the piano and organ and she was a contralto singer. She graduated from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in the early 1900s, and taught music there until her marriage.
She married George Ransome Kirby in 1918 when she was about 28 years old. He had grown children. The marriage only last a short while, and she divorced him. She moved to Philadelphia and lived with her older sister Myrtle Harris Yerkes and family for a time, before moving to an apartment.
In Philadelphia, she worked for the Veterans Administration for a number of years, and then became executive secretary to the Dean of Teacher's College at Temple University. When she retired she moved back to an apartment on Church Street in Henderson where she directed the church choir and played piano for the Sunday School. She was also a substitute organist for the church. She was a member of the Student Club, the Bird Club and the Delta Kappa Gamma professional honorary society.
She spent her last years in a nursing home near Henderson. According to her niece, Rosalie Yerkes Figge, she thought she had lived to be 100, but when she found she was only 99th, she gave up and died eight days after her birthday.
The funeral was at the First Presbyterian Church with the service conducted by Dr. James B. Storey, assisted by Mrs. Kirby's great-nephew, the Rev. Peter Ross Powell Jr. of Weston CT. Burial was on 6-13-85.
She was survived by her two younger brothers, Samuel Rogers Harris, Jr. of Henderson (also buried in Elmwood Cemetery) and Julian Earl Harris of Madison, WI. Pallbearers were J. W. Crawford, M.T. Jessup, C.S. Tippet, R.G. Kittrell Jr., Bennet H. Perry, Jrs. and George Gouch.
She married George Ransome Kirby in 1918 when she was about 28 years old. He had grown children. The marriage only last a short while, and she divorced him. She moved to Philadelphia and lived with her older sister Myrtle Harris Yerkes and family for a time, before moving to an apartment.
In Philadelphia, she worked for the Veterans Administration for a number of years, and then became executive secretary to the Dean of Teacher's College at Temple University. When she retired she moved back to an apartment on Church Street in Henderson where she directed the church choir and played piano for the Sunday School. She was also a substitute organist for the church. She was a member of the Student Club, the Bird Club and the Delta Kappa Gamma professional honorary society.
She spent her last years in a nursing home near Henderson. According to her niece, Rosalie Yerkes Figge, she thought she had lived to be 100, but when she found she was only 99th, she gave up and died eight days after her birthday.
The funeral was at the First Presbyterian Church with the service conducted by Dr. James B. Storey, assisted by Mrs. Kirby's great-nephew, the Rev. Peter Ross Powell Jr. of Weston CT. Burial was on 6-13-85.
She was survived by her two younger brothers, Samuel Rogers Harris, Jr. of Henderson (also buried in Elmwood Cemetery) and Julian Earl Harris of Madison, WI. Pallbearers were J. W. Crawford, M.T. Jessup, C.S. Tippet, R.G. Kittrell Jr., Bennet H. Perry, Jrs. and George Gouch.
Inscription
"Aunt Ethel"
