WORCESTER, Mass. – Dr. Bettina Hall Harrison passed away in Worcester, Mass., on Aug. 23, after a brief illness. She was the wife of the late John William “Jack” Harrison.

A longtime Winchester, Mass. resident, she was born Bettina Hall in Foxboro Mass., on July 16, 1918. She graduated from Foxboro High School in 1935 and held degrees from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst (1939), Harvard University (1940) and Boston University (1968).

Her professional career spanned both the academic and scientific communities. Right after her marriage, she worked in the laboratory at the Bates Fabric Mills and the medical laboratory at Central Maine General Hospital in Lewiston. In her early Massachusetts career, she taught at Lasell College in Newton. She taught at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, for more than 30 years and was one of the founding professors of the cell biology program.

She was one of the first recipients of the Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award. She enjoyed teaching and teachers so much that she established the Bettina Hall Harrison Award at the University, for undergraduate and graduate students that have the most potential to become excellent teachers. She also conducted research at Tufts University New England Medical Center under a program with the Children’s Leukemia Research Association Inc.

She was a longtime Winchester, Mass. resident, but after her marriage to the late John William “Jack” Harrison, she spent her summers at Mere Point, outside of Brunswick. In fact, she met her future husband at Mere Point. She had been visiting her aunt, Winifred McLean, at her aunt’s house on the point and met Jack Harrison, who summered at his father’s cottage, also at Mere Point. The rest is history.

She is survived by a son, John W. Harrison of New Hartford, Conn.; two daughters, Deborah H. Knowlton of Sturbridge, Mass., and Christine H. Spalding of Kingston, Mass.; four grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.

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