Lucy Harrison Campbell
June 24, 1926 - January 22, 2021
Lucy Harrison Campbell died in her Berkeley home on January 22, 2021. She was 94 years of age. She will be deeply missed by all who knew her and remembered her for her sharp mind, inquisitive nature, thoughtfulness, and devotion to her family.
Lucy was born on June 24, 1926 in San Francisco to Maurice Edward Harrison and Margaret Hayne Harrison, the youngest of five children. She attended the Katherine Delmar Burke School where she made lifelong friends and developed a passion for learning and sports. Raised as a Catholic, her faith was a central part of her life. As a child, Lucy loved horseback riding and horsemanship as well as international travel, trips to Yosemite, and summers at Huntington Lake Camp for Girls. In her early years, she witnessed seminal local and international events, including walking the Golden Gate Bridge on its opening day in 1937, attending the World’s Fair on Treasure Island in 1939, celebrating V-J Day at the end of World War II, and attending the San Francisco Conference where the United Nations Charter was signed in 1945.
Lucy graduated from UC Berkeley in 1947 where she was a member of the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority and formed more long-lasting friendships. She majored in Regional Group in Hispanic America (in subsequent years referred to as Latin American Studies) and developed a strong proficiency in Spanish. Her choice of major was influenced by both President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Good Neighbor Policy toward Latin America and her travel to Argentina in 1944 to accompany her mother who had just published a biography on Don José de San Martín, a prime military leader in the region’s struggle for independence.
In 1946, she met and fell in love with Donald Campbell, also a student at Cal. They married on September 17, 1949 and spent 67 wonderful years in marriage until Don died in 2016.
Lucy and Don settled in the Berkeley Hills where they raised six children. Lucy hosted holiday gatherings of the extended family for many years, always making each holiday and other events a special occasion. She was the anchor to the family, providing acts of kindness, love, and caring to all.
Don and Lucy shared a love of travel and interest in diverse peoples, places, art, and cultures. They travelled widely around the world, visiting all seven continents. They shared their love of travel with their children by taking them on several memorable trips abroad.
Lucy engaged in civic life as the leader of a Girl Scout troop, the host of Japanese leaders of the BerkeleySakai Association (a sister city organization), a member of National Society of the Colonial Dames, and service on the Council of Friends of the Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley and Mills College. As a member of the Berkeley Tennis Club, she was an avid tennis player. In her later years, she especially enjoyed sitting in the sun in her garden, watching the sun set over the San Francisco Bay, and visiting with family.
In addition to Don, Lucy was predeceased by her siblings Harriet Lombardi, Maurice Harrison, Jr., Sally Meyer and Margaret Washburn.
She is survived by her six children Harriet Saunders (Chris), Sally Giulie (Jim), Duncan Campbell (Marguerite), Nancy Nielsen (Carl), Jane Campbell (Pat Buckman), and Martha Campbell (John Beach), 11 grandchildren, 12 greatgrandchildren, and many nieces, nephews, and cousins.