Principal admired for her strength, dedication

OLYMPIA - When former McLane Elementary School principal Maria Harrison was a teacher on a U.S. compound in Saudi Arabia in the 1960s and '70s, she wasn't going to let a cultural taboo keep her from her love of the water and sailing.

Outside the compound, women couldn’t drive, wear shorter skirts or have other habits that Americans were used to, said her husband, John, whom she met while both were teachers there.

But she found a way, he said.

“She would disguise herself as a man,” he said. “She used to have a pipe – I smoked a pipe in those days – and a floppy hat, and we went to the beach.”

“She was pretty strong-willed and took the bull by the horns,” John Harrison said almost 40 years later in their Olympia home. “That’s one of the things I admired about her.”

Maria Harrison died Wednesday after a recurrence of breast cancer, her family said. She was principal at McLane Elementary School for seven years before retiring last summer.

She would have turned 66 today.

Maria Harrison, born to Italian immigrants in New York City, was involved in education for 45 years, with a career that brought her to New York state, Saudi Arabia and Montana before she took on the principal job at McLane.

She and her husband sought to live closer to their daughters, Rebecca Harrison of Tacoma and Erika Eskew, who lives with her family in Sherwood, Ore.

“She loved kids. She believed that schools were for kids – that everybody is there to teach the kids,” said John Harrison, who also retired from a career in education, much of it spent as a guidance counselor. He said that whenever he volunteered at McLane, he would see children hugging his wife.

In addition to a recurrence of breast cancer, Maria Harrison had been dealing with a hip replacement and other health issues in the past few years, her husband said.

She kept working through her illness and was determined to beat the cancer again, said School Board member and McLane parent Mark Campeau.

Campeau said he was amazed by her ability to continue the duties of a principal, a job that requires long hours and lots of energy from anyone.

“She showed me how strong she was,” he said.

Harrison came to a science fair in a wheelchair several days after she had been diagnosed with cancer, Campeau said.

“She said the kids would have been let down if she wasn’t there,” he said.

The school has made a counselor available to students, staff members and families.

Venice Buhain: 360-754-5445

vbuhain@theolympian.com

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