MARY ALICE FIELDS HARRIS

Posted

Mary Alice Fields Harris, 89, was born on April 25th, 1931, and passed away on December 5th, 2020.

She was born and raised in Goldston, N.C. Mary Alice (“Bo”) attended Goldston High School then graduated from East Carolina University in 1954 studying Early Childhood Education.

It was at this time she married her longtime sweetheart, William Joseph Harris, also from Goldston. After teaching for two years in three different N.C. school districts, Mary Alice moved to Miami, Florida, where she taught at Lakeview Elementary for three years, and where she and her husband Bill made a life together and raised three daughters — Beth, Mary Jo, and Linda Sue. Mary Alice continued her education studying at both Florida International University and Barry University.

After her husband’s retirement from Miami-Dade County Public Schools, they lived in both Port St. Lucie, Florida, and Banner Elk, N.C., for twenty years before moving to Madison, Alabama, to be closer to their three daughters. She enjoyed art and as a watercolorist painted scenes from places she lived; from the water, birds, and architecture of south Florida, to the mountains of North Carolina.

Mary Alice is preceded in death by her parents; Lawson Worth Fields and Annie Catherine Brown Fields, her brother Bobby Fields, and her sister Sylvia Fields Johnson.

She is survived by her husband, William Harris to whom she was married for 66 years; daughter Beth (Ronnie Ray) Pittman of Carrollton, Georgia; daughter Rev. Mary Jo (Mark) Gessner of Madison, Alabama; daughter Linda (Hydia) Lockhart of Louisville, Kentucky, four grandchildren, and three great grandchildren.

Mrs. Harris will have a family graveside service at a later date at Goldston United Methodist Church, where she and her husband married in 1954.