Marion Harless

She called herself an “herbarist” because, she said, “An herbarist is a person who grows herbs and uses them, and an herbalist is a person who uses herbs medicinally and doesn’t necessarily know anything about the plants!”

Marion’s garden in Kerens, which she called “The Mulch Patch,” was a living classroom.

Over 32 years, Marion brought students from the Augusta Heritage Arts Workshops to this garden–actually, two gardens, both in Kerens, one at the house she rented in 1977, the other at the one she bought in 1998. Foodways and natural healing arts that she had grown up with were being lost, while at the same time becoming of interest to young back-to-the-landers.

Marion Dolores Harless was born on June 29, 1935, in Steubenville, Ohio, across the Ohio River from Weirton, West Virginia, where she grew up. Her father, Everett Harless, had come to Weirton from Logan, and her mother, Jane (Hoag) Harless, was from just across the border in Pennsylvania. Both were familiar with native and cultivated plants and their uses.

They built a house on three wooded acres, later expanded to 10, and cleared areas for gardens, an orchard, a vineyard, and a chicken house. Marion said, “By the time I was five, I knew the names of the 21 tree and shrub species that were left in the yard.”

While attending public schools in Hancock County, Marion participated in 4-H from the age of 13 to 21. She was a counselor at nature camps from Oglebay Park in Wheeling, to Palisades Interstate Park in New York.

Her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from West Virginia University were in psychology, and she did further graduate work in animal behavior and ecology. One of her many interests led to a book, Turtles: Perspectives and Research (co-editor), published by Wiley in 1979. She had teaching positions in Missouri, Texas, Washington and for two years in Venezuela.

Then it was time to come home. Subscribing to local newspapers helped her to decide where in the Mountain State she should settle. In 1977, she brought her dog, Travis, and a few cats to Kerens, just north of Elkins.

Besides teaching at Augusta, she served as director in 1979-80. For many years, she taught English as a Second Language in the International Language Institute at Davis & Elkins College.

She was a longtime member of the West Virginia Herb Association, and in the late 1980s, she helped found the Mountain State Organic Growers and Buyers Association and edited its newsletter. She also enjoyed participating in the local Weavers Guild. Her handspun, handwoven scarves of local wool and mohair, along with her produce, herb plants and salves, were popular at farmer’s markets in Elkins.

Marion is survived by her sister, Merrill McCarthy, of Sierra Vista, Arizona; and her niece, Heidi Baker, of Waleska, Georgia. As a teenager, Heidi spent two summers with Marion, mostly in the garden. She remembers it fondly.

Kara Vaneck, proprietor of Smoke Camp Crafts in Weston, who studied with her as a West Virginia Folklife Apprentice, said, “Marion will live on in each of those plants that she so graciously cared for throughout the course of her life.”

A memorial gathering will be held in Elkins during Augusta’s summer season