My Unsung Heroine is my mother, Vivan Truax Harriman (1915-1990).
She was born the daughter of a coal miner in Shadyside, Ohio. Surviving the depression years, she kept an indomitable spirit in tact. She was the only sibling of four children to have the determination to gain a college education. She attended the two-year teachers’ college in Kent, Ohio (now Kent State University), where she earned her associate’s degree in education. She later completed her Bachelor’s Degree at the University of Maryland.
Her Career in education was pursued in the midst of raising two children and being “the wind beneath the wings” of a flourishing insurance claims man.
She worked tirelessly as a volunteer in her church in Annapolis, Maryland, as well as the Anne Arundel Medical Center. She continuously utilized her teaching skills as a pilot teacher for new curriculum in the Anne Arundel County Public School System. She was often called upon to in-service county educators and grant model lessons in her own classroom. She was a beloved first grade teacher for over thirty years!
Vivian Harriman will always be cherished as a loving, sacrificial mother, supportive wife, caring sister and daughter and an unsung heroine of her family as well as countless children who learned under her expert tutelage.
Submitted by: Cheryl Harriman Townshend
October 17, 2015
