Andy put some finishing touches on the obit I worked up about Mom.

Harriet Z. Levy, born on May 5, 1927 in New York City to Morris and Hilda Zinneman, died in Silver Spring, Maryland on December 22, 2020 of Covid-19. Harriet grew up in the Bronx (Macombs Rd.), attended Ashley Hall in Charleston, SC and graduated from high school on June 6, 1944—D Day. She received a B.A. in sociology from Milwaukee-Downer College (now Lawrence University), and a Masters in Library Science from the University of Maryland, College Park. Harriet subsequently held positions of responsibility at several federal libraries, including the Naval Medical Research Institute; the Naval School of Health Care Administration and the General Accounting Office.

 

Harriet married Stanley M. Levy on September 11, 1949 at the Waldorf-Astoria. They had met on a blind date (they went to see Hitchcock’s “Rope”), and she often joked that he had originally agreed to meet her mostly because she lived conveniently nearby. Their honeymoon trip was a move to Fayetteville, Arkansas where Stan had been hired to teach at the University of Arkansas Law School and Harriet taught Spanish. When the Korean War decimated the school’s enrollment, they moved to the Washington, DC area, where they lived for the rest of their lives. (Sadly, Stan died suddenly in 2009, fewer than three weeks after celebrating his 90^th birthday.)

 

Harriet and Stan shared a love of travel. In 1978 they purchased a motor home, and in retirement spent several months each year exploring North America as members of the Silver Spring Acorns chapter of the Good Sam Club. Harriet’s book, The Great Affair, is a delightful memoir of those experiences, a time she spoke of fondly as some of the happiest times in her life. They also were fortunate enough to be able to take many foreign trips, which took them to every continent except Antarctica, and their itineraries were skewed to out-of-the way places. Harriet’s stories of those adventures were often humorous, even her tales of stressful or dangerous moments—including a flight on a low-budget airline when their flight took off late because the airline had had to scramble for gas money, which raised doubts about the maintenance budget! Harriet was in the process of writing her second book, about those international travels, when she passed.

 

Bana (as she was affectionately known to her grandchildren and great-grandchildren) took her grandparental ‘responsibilities’ seriously, and she was very involved in their lives. Over the years she took her grandchildren on a variety of trips (that ‘just happened’ to be educational), passing on her love of travel to the next generation.

Needlework, particularly counted cross-stitch, was Harriet’s creative outlet. Over the years family and friends were the lucky recipients of her beautiful work, a number of which won well-deserved ribbons.

In 2002 Harriet and Stan moved to Riderwood, a senior community in Silver Spring. Harriet served as an editor for the literary magazine Tales from Riderwood, and was an avid duplicate bridge and Rummikub player.

 

She is survived by her three children: Bobbi Levy-Dodge (Tom), Marilyn Murrmann (Don), and Andy Levy (Sandy), as well as five grandchildren (Jeff Murrmann (Priscilla), Zach Murrmann (Bekkah), Lily Dodge, Alex Dodge, and Ed McGill (Emily)) and seven great-grandchildren (Charlie McGill, Harry McGill, Sierra Phillips, Gordon Phillips, Maggie McGill, Greta McGill, and Lillie Gent.)

In lieu of flowers contributions may be made to a scholarship fund at the University of Maryland Carey School of Law that Harriet and Stan established in 1979 in honor of their son: Andrew D. Levy Scholarship Fund, c/o UMB Foundation, 220 N Arch St 13th Floor, Baltimore, MD 21201, https://www.umaryland.edu/umbf/.