Elsie Harris

Elsie Harris, 89, of Cedar Rapids, passed away peacefully in her home on Friday, April 24, 2015. Funeral Services: 2 p.m. on Saturday, May 23, 2015, at Stewart Baxter Funeral & Memorial Services, Cedar Rapids, followed by a gathering of friends and family. A celebration of Elsie's life and her interment will take place at Dunkard Cemetery, Toddville in mid-summer. Elsie was born in Marion, Iowa on July 25, 1925, and lived in the Marion and Cedar Rapids area all her life. She was preceded in death by her husband of 68 years, Fay Harris; her parents, Everett & Serena (Hutton) Dye Bradshaw; and her brothers, Frank, Jack, George Dye. Elsie is survived by her sisters, Jean Northrup of Cedar Rapids and Sister Jo Dye of the Contemplative Sisters of the Good Shepherd, Stillwater, Minnesota; her children, Richard (Patricia) Harris of Albuquerque, Marguerite (Gerald) Swenson of Milwaukee, Kenneth (Susie) Harris of Honolulu, William 'Bill' Harris (Celeste Bishel) of New Ulm, Minnesota, and Steven Harris of Wellesley, Massachusetts; seven grandchildren, Jennifer, Amanda, James, Kristina, Adam, Kenneth, and Amica; and six great-grandchildren, Kalia, Ke'au, Caitlin, Maiya, Emily, and Natalie. She worked at Me Too and Sun Mart where she was nominated for Checker of the Year for several years, winning in 1967. She was also active in the Cub Scouts for many years. Elsie was a gifted textile artist with a remarkably creative imagination. She was a founding member of the Cedar Rapids Area Fiber Artists (begun in 1970) and an active member of the Weavers Guild since the mid-1970s. She won many ribbons at regional state fairs and craft shows in Iowa and Wisconsin, and also won many awards for her weavings, including 'Best of Show' from Grant Wood Art Festival in Stone City and Brucemore Historic Estate in Cedar Rapids. She did weaving demonstrations at Armstrong's Department Store and in Coventry Gardens in the Five Seasons. She organized and participated in 'sheep-to-shawl' demonstrations in Muscatine and Des Moines with the Weavers' Guild, and in the Ambrose Recreation Center's 'Roundhouse Program for Children', where they created items including straw weavings, felting bead, and felt 'geodes'. She dyed wool and silk for weaving clothes, wall hangings, batiking, and scarves. Her fiber art included basket weaving made with twine, wool, beads, bread wrappers, plastic rods, tree branches, hoops and displayed a delightful sense of humor in her design of purses, pillows, dolls, stuffed animals, and felt hats. She won First Place in the Merchants National Bank Freedom Festival Art Fair in 1989, which included the following citation: 'Elsie has been creating interesting works of art in a variety of media for many decades, but she finds weaving to be the most challenging and satisfying. Her innovative use of design and material makes each of her pieces an original, interesting and unusual work of art. She also enjoys off-loom weaving, as well as felting, basketry (both traditional and non-traditional forms), and most fun of all, creating a multitude of fanciful sheep: woven, non-woven, large, small, indoor, outdoor, drab, gaudy. What fun! Her imagination, ingenuity and creativity are matched by her diversity of interests, and her rejection of the staid and mundane.' - MNB award citation, July 5th, 1989.