Katherine "Sue" (Spencer) Harris' Obituary
Katherine "Sue" (Spencer) Harris passed away peacefully in her sleep on May 27, 2026, in Los Osos, CA at the age of 102. She was born on January 18, 1924, in New Haven, CT, the second child of Walter Bunce Spencer and Marion Corliss Spencer. She was a bright, cheerful, and energetic child who loved being outdoors and always near her beloved dog, Tommy. She attended high school at Northfield School for Girls in Northfield, MA and went on to major in Physics at Wellesley College during the WWII years, graduating with a B.A. in 1945. While at Wellesley, she had the privilege of learning about the new science of splitting atoms while her older brother Walter was working on the Manhattan Project. When the college closed for several months to support the war effort, Sue worked in the local aerospace industry testing airplane wings and making bomb detonator parts.
Sue married Bradley Duane Harris on May 1, 1946. They had met on a blind date while in high school but had not stayed in touch. When different friends set them up for another blind date in college, the timing was perfect. Brad had entered the US Army during the war and had received a Bronze Star Medal with Merit attachment for his service in France. After they married, Brad and Sue lived in Grenoble, France for a year while he studied under the GI Bill of Rights. Sue had learned German during her school days and now added French. After their year in Grenoble, Brad and Sue came back to the US, and he took teaching jobs while she started her Mom years. Between 1948-1961, they had five children: Anne Foster, Bradley Duane Jr., Mark Baldwin, James "Van" Vanderworker, and Spencer Johnston. During that time, Brad entered what would become a nearly twenty-year career at the Winchester Western Division of the Olin Mathieson Chemical Corporation, based in New Haven, CT. The family spent many happy years in Wallingford, CT, and Sue was very active in Welcome Wagon, AAUW, the local garden club, and more.
In 1967, Winchester offered Brad a position as Managing Director in Italy, and the family moved to downtown Rome. They lived in Piazza di Campitelli and then in the Trastevere neighborhood. When Brad left Winchester to pursue a private counselling career, Sue took over a small, Montessori-type private school on the outskirts of Rome. She served as headmistress, administrator, financial officer, maintenance, sometimes even cook and bus driver. Eventually the family and the school moved into a villa in the countryside near Rome where the school began to accept boarding students. Sue's years running the International School of Rome and its associated summer camp (1971-1985) are lovingly and humorously documented in her 2009 book, "A Lion in the Kindergarten", scheduled to be available in the near future on demand. Sue loved combining education and outdoors life and took her students on field trips to mountain villages, a live volcano, the beach - serious road trips - as well as into nearby fields and caves hunting for bugs and artifacts. The children loved the school and camp so much that many cried when they had to leave. Sue was fun, engaged, and boundlessly curious. To this day, many of her students stay in touch through a Facebook group.
After she closed the school in 1985, Sue took on individual students who needed specialized tutoring. By 1990, Brad and Sue had moved from Castelnuovo di Porto into a smaller home in Bracciano near the famous 15th century Odescalchi-Orsini castle and beautiful Lake Bracciano. Brad had been slowing down and passed away that October. Sue had been painting (mostly oils) off and on for decades but started competing in earnest – featuring in numerous group and solo exhibitions - and even set up her own website and studio for several years.
In 2012, at the age of 88, Sue moved back to the US to live near her son Spencer and his family in the San Luis Obispo, CA area. Even though she slowed down gradually physically in the years that followed, she never lost her magical spirit. She was joyful, social, and curious until her last breath. When asked recently by one of her children what she was doing that day, she replied, "Just sitting here being happy." Sue was forever young.
Sue was predeceased by her siblings (Walter Jr., Charles, Antoinette "Anne", and James), her husband Brad, and her son Van. She leaves behind four children, nine grandchildren (Bradley (Daisy) and Ruchell (Kerian) Hack; Raven (Denis) Fleps, Misha (Greg) Brown, Cody (Rebecca) Harris, and Giò (Mandy) Harris; Bradley Daniel Harris; Spencer (Megan) Harris and Scarlett (Clay) Carder); and a growing list of great-grandchildren.
Private celebrations of Sue's life will be held in CA and CT with attendance by invitation. Her remains will be interred at Stafford Springs Cemetery in Stafford Springs, CT. To leave a condolence online for the family, please visit: https://www.introvignefuneralhome.com
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