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Sometimes someone comes into your life for a brief period of time and changes it forever. I know because Harriet changed mine. I was three when I met Harriet. Truthfully, all I remember is that each week mom and I visited Harriet for fun and games. Within a couple of years, we stopped our weekly visits. It was only then that I realized that Harriet was not just one of my mom’s friends. She was my teacher. She opened her home and her heart to make me feel special and smart.

Harriet just didn’t teach a little boy to pronounce words. She taught me that nothing is too difficult if you try. I use that lesson every day. She also gave me something deeper, something special. I think I only began to understand this special gift when I was in fourth grade. It was that year that I won a city-wide poetry contest about being a friend. I remember the judge telling me that my piece had "such voice". It did. It was Harriet’s voice.

 

I cannot image how sad Dr. Needleman and his sons are right now knowing they will never hear her voice again. I cried too. Harriet’s presence may have been stolen from us, but Harriet’s voice can never be silenced. In my heart and the hearts of the hundreds of children she taught, her voice will live forever.

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By C.J. Katenback - 12 year old speech patient of Harriet