Elizabeth Adelaide Bowers Harris

Born on a sheep ranch near Choteau, Montana, Elizabeth spent her childhood working hard inside and out. She had a feisty “can do” spirit that lasted throughout her life. The family survived the Great Depression running a dairy operation on Trout Creek near Helena. She attended schools in the Helena area.

She met her husband, John Morgan Harris, while working at Yellowstone Park. They married and moved to Arkansas where he worked in lumber with his father. Later they moved to Grand Junction to run a milling operation near new timber land for the war effort. The couple had five children from 1940 – 1956.

In Grand Junction, Elizabeth was a founding member of the Brush and Palette Club and always a member of the Democratic Party. She raised Shetland Sheepdogs and was a devoted leader of the Mesa County Dog Project for almost two decades. She became a real estate agent and a broker, becoming the first woman president of the Grand Junction Board of Realtors.

When she retired at age 75, she married her childhood sweetheart, Eddie Morgensen. She helped to found and support the Grand Junction Botanical Garden where her imagination was instrumental in the establishment of the native habitat on Watson Island, the Butterfly House, and Tropical Garden. Her special love was the Heritage Garden, which combined the main intellectual interests of her life, botany and western history. It was her vision to make the river a centerpiece of our community.

She is survived by four children and their spouses: John and Bonnie Harris from Grand Junction; Richard and Sue Harris from Petaluma, CA; Beth Harris and Rick Wallace from El Cerrito, CA; and Sue Harris and Britt Smith from Grand Junction, CO. There are 13 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren. Kay Harris Kriegsman, the second of the five children, died in 2016.

Funeral Mass will be held April 26, 2019 at St. Joseph’s Church at 2 PM. Graveside services will follow immediately after at Orchard Mesa Cemetery. A celebration of her life will follow at St. Joseph Church in the Family Life Center.

In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to HopeWest, 3090B N. 12th Street, Grand Junction, CO 81506, or Western Colorado Botanical Gardens, 641 Struthers Avenue, Grand Junction, CO 81501.