Harrises’ route led them back to Iola

Fate played her hand in the teaming up of Leon and Ardith Harris, this year’s Farm Marshals for this weekend’s Farm-City Days.
Though Leon was born in these parts, it wasn’t until he was a senior in high school that he returned to live on the family farm northwest of Iola.
Ardith Cline grew up in Iola, but when the family was displaced by the 1951 flood, they were offered residence at a parsonage in Salem.
It was at Salem Evangelical United Brethren Church that they first met. They didn’t become a couple right off the bat. “He dated some other girls,” Ardith said, but obviously of no consequence. The Harrises have been married 58 years.
The Great Depression forced Leon’s father, Casey, to look elsewhere for work. Stints included Kinsley, Dodge City and Larned.
“We would visit relatives when I was a kid, but most of my memories of Iola started in 1952 when we moved back,” he said.
Ardith was born in Lamar, a town that no longer exists, on the outskirts of Salina. She moved with her parents, Roy and Maxine, when she was 2.
The family lived along South Washington Avenue until the flood chased them from their home and they moved into the rural parsonage.
After they became a couple Leon enlisted in the Navy. His training took him to the Great Lakes, Norman, Okla., Hutchinson and finally Memphis before getting his orders to spend two years in Hawaii.
Leon and Ardith were married in August 1956. They moved to Honolulu a month later.
“There was a bit of culture shock, coming from Kansas,” Ardith said.
UPON COMPLETING his Naval service, Leon worked for five years at Lockheed Aircraft in Burbank, Calif., and 26 years for Boeing, 17 of which were in Seattle; and eight in Wichita.
As an electronic engineer, Leon focused primarily on research.
“We worked in a lab,” he said. “The designers would come up with an idea, and we’d take it into the lab and check it out.”
Sometimes, the ideas flew (no pun intended). “Sometimes, they had to change their mind,” he said.
Among Leon’s duties were to help with the design of Boeing’s first ever 747.
“I probably shouldn’t say this, but the 747 was redesigned completely from their initial paperwork,” he said.

UPON retirement, the Harrises returned to Iola in the early 1990s. They built a home on Leon’s old farmstead in 1992. His father and grandfather were both born there.
“I got to spend time with my dad, and Ardith got to spend time with her mother,” Leon said.
“I’m glad we’re where we are,” Ardith said. “I had some thoughts about it when we first moved back, but I’m glad we did.”
They remain active in retirement. Leon was among the researchers who helped find names of military veterans to be placed on the Memorial Wall on the Allen County Courthouse square. He also volunteered for years at the Allen County Historical Society.
Ardith, meanwhile, remains active with the Sorosis Club.
They chuckled when informed earlier this fall that they were going to be farm marshals for the upcoming celebration.
“Why?” Leon asked. “We live on a farm, but we don’t farm.”
While they live on the farm, they have little more than hay.
Still, they enjoy the annual festival.
Leon is fond of attending the car show. Ardith is at home stopping by the assorted arts and crafts booths.
“The best part is getting to see the people you don’t see that often,” she said. “It’s just a good, hometown feeling.”