2009
Harriette "Woodie" Harris, 90, who retired in 1978 as an administrative officer for the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration, died Jan. 13 at Somerford Place, an Alzheimer's care center in Annapolis.
Mrs. Harris began working for NASA in 1960 as a secretary, and some of her responsibilities included answering fan
mail addressed to astronaut John Glenn. She later helped start the mail-processing system at what is now the
Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Harriette Woods was born in Glenn Dale, attended Roosevelt High School in Washington and began her career in
1937 as a clerk for the National Education Association.
She later was a sales clerk for the Woodward & Lothrop department store in Washington and an insurance
underwriter and agent for several Washington insurance companies. In the 1950s, she was a secretary for the D.C.
police.
Her memberships included the Order of the Eastern Star and the women's auxiliaries of the American Legion and the
Glenn Dale Fire Association. She was a longtime Prince George's County resident before moving to Somerford Place
about three years ago.
Her marriages to Frederick W. Schenk, Charles F. Kelso and Woodrow W. Wines ended in divorce. Her fourth
husband, John P. Harris, died in 2005 after 33 years of marriage.
Survivors include two children from her first marriage, Barbara Selby of Tilghman Island, Md., and Gary W. Schenk of
College Park; a son from her second marriage, Charles F. Kelso Jr. of Eugene, Ore.; a son from her third marriage,
Woodrow W. Wines Jr. of Greenbelt; six grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.
-- Adam Bernstein