Harriet H. Thies

Harriet Thies, aged 71, Laguna Niguel, CA, formerly of Ashton, IA passed away at her home in Laguna Niguel, CA on Thursday, June 27 following a courageous battle with ovarian cancer. A Memorial Mass will be 11:00 AM, Monday, August 12th at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Ashton, IA, with Father John Vakulskas as Celebrant. Inurnment will follow at St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery in Ashton. Donations in Harriet's honor can be made to the American Cancer Society, 250 Williams St. NW, Atlanta, GA 30303. Harriet was born in Brooklyn, NY. She graduated Brooklyn College in 1964 and went on to do graduate work in speech pathology at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, IA. During that time she met her husband Terry who was also studying speech pathology. Harriet and Terry were married on August 6, 1964 and both took jobs as itinerant speech therapists in the schools of Dubuque County, Iowa. Son Scott was born on January 1 of 1966 and at a few months of age was confirmed to have a profound bilateral hearing loss. This led to a comprehensive search for excellent education programs for deaf children and a move in 1969 to the San Gabriel Valley of southern California so Scott could attend the Alhambra public school program for deaf children. Both Harriet and Terry continued work as itinerant speech-language pathologists in Los Angeles County. Harriet completed her Master's Degree program and transitioned into a position as a severe language disorders specialist first for L.A. County and then the El Monte City School District. Harriet loved every day of her career helping hundreds of children with severe language disabilities. She also supervised speech pathology clinics at CSULA and was much admired by her many students and colleagues. She served on the board of the California Speech-Language-Hearing Association holding the office of secretary and later director of California District Seven. Harriet had a passion for travel and she and her husband managed to visit all 50 states, Mexico, Canada, Europe, South America, Latin America, Asia, Australia, New Zealand and parts of Africa. Her second love was cooking and hosting parties for family and friends. She will be greatly missed by her surviving family including husband Terry, son Scott and wife Kimberly, many nieces, nephews, cousins and friends. Following their retirement Harriet and Terry spent ten years restoring Terry's old family home in Ashton, IA and re-established friendships with many family members and friends in northwest Iowa.