Harriet Lee Ware Greenwood's Obituary
Harriet Lee Ware Greenwood, 86, of Collierville, TN passed away surrounded by family on October 19, 2022.
Mrs. Greenwood was born on October 18, 1936 in Barboursville, WV to Rev. Herbert W. Ware and Ada Riggleman Ware. She was the youngest of three children.
Mrs. Greenwood is preceded in death by her parents, her brothers Edgar Ware and Rev. Virgil Ware, and her husband of 64 years, Thomas Greenwood.
She is survived by her son, Mark (Marti) Greenwood, her daughters, Vicki (Mark) Bowen and Melissa (Will) Seay, her grandchildren, Johnny Schommer, Channon Malkin, Nathan Bowen, Danielle Bowen, Isabel Seay, and Charlotte Seay, and her great-grandchildren, Kala Malkin, and Logan Leach. She also leaves behind several nieces and nephews.
Mrs. Greenwood spent her early years in various cities in West Virginia. Her father and her brother Virgil were Methodist ministers and from childhood into adulthood she played the church organ and was a talented pianist. She loved spending time at her family cabin in the mountains of WV which she did often.
Mrs. Greenwood graduated from Morris Harvey College in Charleston, WV in 1958. On Valentines Day 1958, she married Thomas Greenwood and moved to Baltimore, MD where she became a social worker. Over the years they lived in cities all over the country for Mr. Greenwood’s job until they finally settled in Germantown, TN in 1973. After leaving Baltimore she was a stay-at-home mom until founding a Mother’s Day Out program at Germantown United Methodist Church in 1974. At its start the program cared for 35 children per week. Over the next 11 years with Mrs. Greenwood as director GUMC MDO grew into a licensed preschool program with enrollment of over 300 children. Germantown United Methodist Preschool is now one of the most respected and sought-after preschool programs in the area. For the next 35 years she continued to work in various preschools and daycares. In 1989 she began working at Kingsway Christian Church Day School, where she was the director for 12 years. Other centers she worked as a teacher included Temple Israel, St. Mary’s After-School Program, Grace Celebration Lutheran Church Preschool, Balmoral Baptist Church Preschool, and she even returned to Germantown United Methodist Preschool as a teacher for another 11 years. She continued working with children until about 2 years ago.
Mrs. Greenwood loved being around children and getting to know their families. She was always one to easily talk to others, often finding random connections between them. The word most frequently used to describe her was “sweet”. For more than 45 years Mrs. Greenwood has had a positive impact on hundreds of families through her dedication to and work with children. This and spending time with her family were what she loved more than anything. She also loved growing plants and digging in the dirt. She and Mr. Greenwood had the prettiest patio filled with beautiful plants at their apartment in The Langford of Collierville. She was very active in her church, Germantown United Methodist Church, and her faith was very important to her. She was funny and smart and kind. She will be missed by the many who knew and loved her.
Services will be held on Monday, December 5th at Germantown United Methodist Church. 10am visitation with an 11am service.
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