SCARBOROUGH – Barbara Mearle Allen Lamson Harris was born on May 26, 1923, in West Enfield. She was one of seven children born to John and Ellen Allen. John was a skilled carpenter who worked as a millwright at the pulp mill in Howland. Ellen was a homemaker who in later years worked as an assistant nurse in Millinocket and San Francisco. Sports and camping were Barbara’s passions along with art and creative endeavors. She attended Howland High School where she played basketball, softball, field hockey and lacrosse. After graduating from high school in 1940, she spent the summer designing, building and furnishing a log cabin in the woods behind her home with her cousin, Berniece Thompson. That fall she began working at Atlas Plywood and saved her wages to attend Bangor Maine School of Commerce, now Husson University, in 1941. Barbara played basketball while in school and in 1991 was inducted into Husson University’s Sports Hall of Fame. She graduated as a stenographer June 13, 1943. Barbara joined the United States Navy as a WAVE on Oct. 7 of that year. She attended boot camp at Brooklyn University in New York City and was one of 5000 Waves to march down 5th Avenue on Armistice Day, 1943. She was sent to Oklahoma City for more secretarial training and then to Arlington, Va. where she became the secretary to the Chief Accountant of the Progress, Control and Statistics Department of the Bureau of Yards and Docks. Barbara was honorably discharged from the Navy on May 1, 1946, having attained the rank of Yeoman First Class. She immediately applied for study at Boston University’s Sargent College of Physical Education on the G.I. Bill. During the four summers of her college years, she worked as a counselor at Camp Merestead on Lake Megunticook in Camden, teaching archery and campcraft and conducting canoe trips down the Sheepscot and up the Kennebec Rivers. She was thrilled to also participate in their internationally renowned women’s field hockey camp held the last two weeks of August each summer. While at Sargent College, Barbara was a member of and played in national tournaments for The United Field Hockey Association. On Sept. 27, 1947, she was certified as an Intramural Field Hockey Umpire by the Chairman of the National Committee of Umpires. Upon graduation from Sargent College in 1950, Barbara accepted a position as a Physical Education teacher at Sweet Briar College, a private girl’s college in Sweet Briar, Va. While there, she was a member of The Virginia Field Hockey Association and played for them nationally. Before returning to Camp Merestead the summer of 1951 Barbara trained with the Maine Forestry Service. Barbara taught at Sweet Briar College until her marriage July 12, 1952, to Lyman Ernest Lamson of Portland. Lyman was a machinist at Southworth Machine Company and later head tool and die maker at W. H. Nichols Company, both in Portland, until his death in 1978. Barbara and Lyman had four children. In 1959 Barbara became a member of The First Baptist Church of Portland. She was active as a deaconess and in their camping program. In 1970 she became the administrative assistant to Edna Sawyer, the Director of Child Evangelism Fellowship of Maine. That same year she and Edna co-founded Camp Good News in Livermore Falls, which is still in operation. Barbara developed the programming for Sports, Nature Studies, and Handcrafts. She wrote the educational materials for each and published the resulting workbooks for campers. She was instrumental in designing the layout of the camp and designed and oversaw the building of the camp Nature Hut. Barbara continued her relationship with C.E.F. until 1993. In February 1981 Barbara married Clinton S. Harris. Together they built a house, based on Barbara’s architectural drawings and designs, on property owned by the Harris family in Auburn. They spent their summers at their cottage on Bailey Island. In 2013 Barbara published a book of poetry based on those happy years at Bailey Island and her love of nature. After Clinton’s death in 2010, Barbara lived in Gorham with her son Robert, daughter-in-law Dawna and beloved dog Sophie. She moved to the Maine Veteran’s Home in Scarborough, Maine in 2018 where she resided until her death on April 19, 2022. Barbara is survived by her son, Phillip Eugene Lamson and his wife Julie Lamson of Standish, her daughter, Elizabeth Jayne Redman and her husband Joseph Redman of Falmouth, her son, William Lewis Lamson and his wife Stacey Lamson of Westbrook, her son, Robert Alan Lamson and his wife Dawna Lamson of Gorham; her granddaughter, Stephanie Holmes and her husband David Holmes, her grandson, Andrew Lamson, her grandson, Julian Redman and his partner Kaili Stalling, her step-granddaughter, Luwana Dyer; her great-grandchildren Oliver and Timothy Holmes, and her step-great-grandchildren Auroa, Soriah, Derek, Ryan, Dante, and Kaitlynn Dyer. Barbara is also survived by her stepchildren Edward and his wife Nadia of Alexandria, Va., Brenda Sue and her husband George McCabe of Warrenton Ore., Bette Lou and her husband, Donald Colban of Auburn, and their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. There will be a Celebration of the Life of Barbara Harris at 10:30 a.m., May 7, at FBC Westbrook, 733 Main St., Westbrook, ME 04092. Internment will be held privately on a later date at Maine Veterans’ Cemetery, Augusta. The family wishes to thank the staff of Maine Veterans Home in Scarborough for their kind and compassionate care of Barbara in the last years of her life.Please send donations in her memory to them. https://mainevets.org/locations/scarboroughdonations/

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