Harriet Liss

Harriett Liss grew up in a disadvantaged neighborhood of Brooklyn in the midst of the Great Depression. In 1932, when she was seven years old, Harriet boarded a train from Grand Central Station to spend two weeks on a farm in upstate New York through The Fresh Air Fund’s Friendly Town program.

 

“For an inner-city girl, being sent to a farm was a very special treat!” Harriet says. She visited the home of Jim and Amelia Zeller; a couple who had no children of their own.  Harriet helped the Zellers with farm chores during her stay such as feeding hogs, milking cows, and canning vegetables. On Sundays, after their chores were complete, she fondly remembers the three of them packing a picnic lunch and spending the day on the beach of the St. Lawrence River.

 

After spending two weeks with the Zellers her first summer away, they became so close that Harriet returned each year to their Redwood farm to spend whole summers and sometimes even Christmas vacations with the couple. One summer, Harriet’s entire family came along for a visit. When Harriet was 18 years old and no longer eligible for the Fresh Air Friendly Town program, her father gave her a train ticket as a graduation gift so she could spend one last summer on the farm.

 

Harriet went on to pursue several successful careers, ranging from serving in World War II as a cadet nurse to becoming a senior buyer in the purchasing department at Dillards. Even with her adult life being so busy, she thought it was important to take her husband and children back to Redwood to meet the people who she considered her “second set of parents.” By the time her family was able to make the trip, Jim had passed away and Amelia was in a nursing home. However, Harriet was thankful for the time she was able to spend with Amelia and all the memories the trip brought back. “I learned so much from her, especially about cooking and baking and sewing.” In fact, Harriett still uses many of the recipes Amelia taught her as a child.

 

While visiting Redwood, the Zeller’s farm was for sale and Harriet and her husband seriously considered buying it to live in during retirement. That is, until Harriet’s husband realized what winter was like in upstate New York and they made the mutual decision to move to Arizona. No matter what the distance though, Harriet still thinks often about this special time in her life. Several years ago, she even made one last trip to Redwood, where, with the help of a gas station attendant, she was able to find Amelia’s grand-niece and reminisce about old times.