Obituary

Harriet Hay Storm (b. November 1, 1922)

June 15, in Lake Forest, California, at age ninety, following a lengthy respiratory illness.

Harriet was born and grew up on a family farm near Oregon, Illinois. She rode a pony to the country schoolhouse through elementary grades before graduating valedictorian from the Oregon High School where she was editor of the school paper and received DAR and Belfour Awards. She attended university at nearby Northern Illinois State Teacher’s College (now NIU) where she studied home economics, graduated cum laude, and met her future husband, Bruce Storm, of DeKalb. Following Bruce’s return from military service in Europe, they married in June of 1945 at Lighthouse Church, not far from her birthplace. Four years later, with the completion of Bruce’s studies at the University of Chicago while Harriet worked in campus scientific laboratories, they moved to Los Angeles where Bruce began his professorial career in the School of Public Administration at the University of Southern California. During nearly four decades at USC, Harriet maintained a committed and versatile participation, including several leadership roles, with Town and Gown and with Faculty Women, for which she received the Widney Award for university service. In addition, she served for ten years as a docent at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

She was a deeply devoted parent, homemaker, and wife, skilled gardener and artist, dedicated friend to many, and a stylish and generously welcoming hostess in her home as well as at public events. Harriet was continually and passionately attentive to the interests, experiences, and activities of her three children, their families, and of her many close friends, and was consistently up to date on American politics and world affairs. She was extremely grateful for the blessings of a rich life, and she enjoyed her years with humor and compassion coupled with an astutely realistic view of experience.

She is preceded in death by her husband of sixty-four years, Bruce Storm, and is survived by her children Bill, Gay, and Don, daughters-in-law Deborah Cole Storm and Jennifer Andrews Storm, son-in-law Jon Oakes, and eight grandchildren.

Contributions in Harriet’s name can be made to the Lighthouse Church and Cemetery, 4938 S. Daysville Road, Oregon Illinois or the Bruce and Harriet Storm Doctoral Fellowship, USC Price School of Public Policy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90007.