Harriette Kohorn
May 9, 1925 - May 4, 2023
In the early morning of May 4th, amidst a dramatic storm of rain and thunder, and just five days shy of her 98th birthday, Harriette Kohorn, passed quietly and peacefully in her home of 67 years in Long Beach. She leaves not a void but a bountiful legacy of love and goodwill among all who knew her.
Born in Berwyn, Illinois, much of Harriette’s identity was molded by growing up during the Great Depression. She told a story about how, as a young child, she would give out play money to people on the street, so that they could spend it in her parents’ candy/toy shop and soda fountain. That anecdote epitomized her life-long personality in a nutshell: unwaveringly idealistic and optimistic, always helpful, selflessly generous, and all with boundless enthusiasm and energy.
As a teenager, she became interested in the civil rights movement, as evidenced by an essay she wrote in 1944 while in junior college explaining the roots of racism. She later kept scrapbooks of newspaper articles chronicling the efforts of Martin Luther King, Jr. She continued her commitment to justice well into her 80’s as she debated hot topics of the day-from LGBT marriage to gun control to ending the death penalty to climate change and how to protect the environment-in her beloved Toastmasters organization. At the same time, she infused her kids with her strong sense of empathy, always stressing the importance of standing in the shoes of the other.
Although she had planned to be an actress, she chose instead to marry and ultimately became the world’s best ever mother and, at age 82 (finally!), grandmother. Harriette was never burdened with a desire for materialistic gain. Whenever asked what she wanted for a birthday present, she would always say, “Three good children,” a challenge that her children have continually strived to meet.
She was not a musician, and she could accurately be described as tonally challenged, but she was intensely keen on education, and she read books to learn how to teach music to her oldest beginning when he was 3 years old, starting a chain reaction of love of music and the arts amongst her three children and her grandchild.
Over a long and active life, she volunteered at numerous cultural and charitable events, including ushering for concerts at Cal State Long Beach and working for Long Beach Memorial Hospital’s annual children’s gala. She also enjoyed camping and square dancing with her husband Wally, movies, and plays. Harriette had a surprisingly green thumb in the sandy and gopher infested soil of her home, where she was the first in her neighborhood to remove her front lawn in favor of drought tolerant native plants.
Personally, she made it a point to eat healthily and to exercise everyday. And in keeping with her lifelong practice of always being useful, she instructed that her body should ultimately be donated to science. The UCLA Donated Body Program is the recipient of that bequest.
Over her last several years, although a stroke eviscerated her short-term memory, she always retained the sweet, goodnatured spirit that characterized her entire life. To the end, she was thankful for the extraordinary caregivers who made it possible for her to live out her life at home.
Harriette was predeceased by her husband, Walter, and her brother, Warren. She is survived by her three children, Jay (Zeke), Larry (Lisa), and Kathie, her grandson Joshua, her sister Elaine, and numerous nephews and nieces, as well as her best friend Chris, and Kimmie, her rescue dog companion for the past decade.
A memorial service will be held at noon on Monday, May 15, at Congregation Tikvat Jacob in Manhattan Beach.