HARRIET TYSON,

born outside of Portland, Maine in 1908, died in Tucson on Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2008, after a brief illness.

She and her late husband Ty bought a home in La Canada Desert Homes III in 1983 and moved to La Posada in 2003.

Harriet’s childhood in Maine led her to love independence, the outdoors, and family. While raising her family with Ty in Sherborn, Mass., Harriet became a skilled genealogist. She began a lifetime project of a very complete annotated history of her own family going back several hundred years. Because of her activity and thoroughness, she was elected to the Board of the New England Historic Genealogical Society for several terms.

She was a talented cook and hostess, a successful bridge player, a bibliophile, and a skilled fly fisherwoman. She and Ty would often travel to Maine on vacation to fish and spend time with their children and grandchildren.

In her travels, Harriet had a talent for finding overlooked pieces of glassware, paintings and antiques at auctions and country antique shops, which often proved to have unexpected value. She saw the potential in those things and in abandoned barns and buildings along country roadsides. Over the 40 years they lived in Massachusetts, she painted, papered and moved walls, designed custom hardware and accessories and refinished many pieces of furniture for their 200-year old New England colonial home.

Moving to Green Valley increased Harriet and Ty’s opportunity to play bridge and meet new friends. They also used retirement as a time to do extensive traveling and to explore Arizona while continuing to travel to New England when they could.

Eager to learn new things, Harriet bought a computer in 1987 and worked on putting her genealogical research into computer format. She also became increasingly concerned for and supportive of environmental causes. In Pennsylvania, where she and Ty spent summers away from Green Valley, she began shoveling out a small pond, fed by a spring behind her home. Eventually, she had the pond enlarged, which by her own work became a habitat for frogs, turtles, herons, goldfish, snakes, muskrats, and waterborne plants. It is a model of ecological diversity and balance to this day.

Very loyal to her family, she planned joyfully for their visits where ever she lived. She was devoted to her husband and proud of each generation that followed.

She is survived by her daughter Martha T.B. Slayman; her son William F. Yates; five grandchildren and 10 great-granddaughters.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.