Ann Worischek Harman April 27, 1931 - May 1, 2020

Ann Harman, 89, passed away peacefully with her daughter Joyce and sons Stewart and Art in attendance, with her cat CiCi and dog Toby at home on her hilltop farm in Flint Hill, Virginia on a lovely spring day.

Ann grew up in the Washington, DC area. Her interest in bees was there from the beginning, writing a little book with her friend Jocelyn Sladen called “Bees and How to Pleez Them” when she was about 10 years old. She earned a degree in Chemistry from Virginia Polytechnic Institute (VA Tech). She was a research chemist at the National Bureau of Standards where she won an award for her work at a time when women in chemistry were rare. After her children were born, Ann moved into teaching science and became Head of the Science Department, Georgetown Day School in Washington, DC. She taught her family, friends and students a great love and respect for nature.

After teaching, she moved to Maryland in the late 1970’s and attended a beekeeping course run by Dr Dewey Caron at the University of Maryland. Ann became one of the first Eastern Apiculture Society (EAS) certified master beekeepers in 1981. Ann went on to keep some 50 colonies for honey production. Always active and committed, she was not only a member of but also held office in local, state and national beekeeping organizations.

She was the catalyst, along with veterinarian pharmacologists, Drs. Jürgen von Bredow and James Vick, in founding the North American Apiotherapy Society (NAAS) in 1978 at the University of Maryland; she would later serve as advisor for reestablishment as the American Apitherapy Society (AAS) in 1989. In due course, she became assistant apiarist at the University of Maryland and then the state honeybee Extension Specialist.

Ann was a dedicated honey show judge. She greatly assisted in design and development of the first US honey judging instructional program at the University of Maryland. She was a popular honey judge in the USA and around the world, including Texas, Maine, Australia, Montreal and Korea.

She ‘retired’ to the Flint Hill, VA farm, shared with daughter Joyce’s large-animal veterinary practice, in 1992. Then from 1993 to 2013 she volunteered with at least eight different not-for-profit organizations, teaching beekeeping in 29 countries, undertaking 54 assignments on 5 continents. She was recognized for exceptional service with the President’s Volunteer Service Awards in 2004, 2005 and 2008, and the President’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009.

She taught the Northern Piedmont Beekeepers Association annual beginning beekeeping class for many years and worked closely with her dear friend Billy Davis (the creator of the beekeeping class teaching curriculum) editing and improving the class teaching materials from its inception and throughout the years.

In 1980, Ann was asked to write articles on honey cookery for Gleanings in Bee Culture, now Bee Culture. She soon became a regular contributor, covering all aspects of beekeeping over the next 40 years. Ann finished her last column while in the hospital. She also wrote articles for Bee Craft and was a regular contributor to the Beekeepers’ Quarterly. Her literary work did not stop there. She was a contributor to and co-editor of the 2007 edition of ABC & XYZ of Bee Culture, and was also a contributor to the latest edition that went to press the week she died. She edited and assisted in the publication of many other bee books.

Also, in these last months she worked on chapters in the upcoming Bee Craft books, Bee Space to Bee Hive and Bee Hive to Bee Keeper. Ann wrote the chapters on US beekeepers and inventions as well as contributed important research to other parts of the book.

In accordance with her wishes, there will be no formal service. Plans for a gathering to celebrate her life are being made and will be held at a future date when social gathering restrictions have been lifted.

Contributions toward bee research and student scholarships can be made in her memory to:

Eastern Apiculture Society, c/o Treasurer Jacky Hildreth, 3 Summit Terrace, North Yarmouth, ME 04097, treasurer@easternapiculture.org

Or

American Beekeeping Federation, 500 Discovery Parkway, Suite 125, Superior, Colorado 80027, https://www.abfnet.org/page/donate