I spend my days in the courthouse serving my community at what may be described as one of the most vulnerable times in a person’s life. My focus is Estates and Guardianships. I work with the most amazing people who literally keep the courts running. They are the people behind the scenes who come to work knowing that the day will be challenging and rewarding at the same time.
A few weeks ago, I got a call from Nerys Levy. She told me about a woman named Philippa McNeill Harrison who had just passed. Philippa was the sole caregiver for her 42-year-old daughter, Renee, who was born with Down Syndrome. Renee also has 60% hearing loss, is non-verbal and diagnosed with autism.
Philippa worked at the Library of Congress, the largest library in the world, while studying for her Masters degree in Library Science at the University of Maryland. She returned to Durham where she met her husband and became the librarian at Jordan High School. After the birth of Renee, the marriage ended, and Philippa found caring for her special needs child and working full time became a challenge so Philippa moved closer to friends in Carrboro and took a job as a substitute teacher and media specialist in the Chapel Hill/Carrboro schools.
Her love for libraries continued as she volunteered and was a member of The Friends of the Carrboro Libraries, a group of people who have been advocating for a free standing Orange County branch library in Carrboro for over 30 years. Philippa pioneered inclusion classes in the CHCCS along with Rev. Dr. Josephine Harris and Cathy Barnette, both educators. Rev. Patricia Farrington, also a teacher, and Nerys Levy joined the circle of supporters — not only for Renee, but for every child that needed special education in the schools.
Philippa created and provided instruction to educators on how to best teach non-verbal students which led to Renee attending Phillips Middle School and Chapel Hill High, and at 21 years old she was the first person in the special education class to walk across the stage receiving her diploma from Chapel Hill High School at the Smith Center. The community circle Philippa created for her daughter was there to support and celebrate this very special day.
Renee is a good swimmer and competed in the Special Olympics. With the help of Philippa, Renee was able to get a volunteer job at the Carrboro Branch Library returning books to the shelf. Services to help Renee continue to grow became scarce after her high school years and the family unit began to suffer. Caregiving became difficult and even though the circle helped when they could, Renee began to shut down as our society loses interest in the continued health of special needs adults. Philippa dedicated her life to her daughter most times neglecting her own health in order to have enough money to provide the family with basic needs. Always making just a little too much money to get Medicaid assistance, our broken health care system let this family slip through the cracks.
On September 27, 2022, Philippa passed away. Her last gift to her daughter — Philippa’s will named a dear friend from the circle, Cathy Barnette, as her guardian. The community circle all drove up to the courthouse last week to meet with the Clerk of Superior Court, Mark Kleinschmidt, and filed a motion to modify the guardianship, naming Cathy as Renee’s guardian. I sat in the hearing watching Renee rock and moan as her community circle told stories giving the Clerk every reason to follow through with Philippa’s wish. It was hard for me to hold back my tears as this beautiful circle of friends promised to take care of Renee. When the motion was granted, we all clapped and I watched Renee squeeze Cathy’s hand as if she knew something good just happened. Cathy and her husband never had children, but now they have a very special daughter to take care of. The community circle will continue to support Renee and look forward to the day when the Southern Branch of the Orange County Public Library is completed so Renee can go back to organizing books on the shelves.
Philippa will be missed, but her community circle will continue her work advocating for the lives of children and adults challenged with Down Syndrome and Autism. The Friends of the Carrboro Libraries are accepting donations in Philippa McNeill Harrison’s name with hopes to do something special for her after the library is built. Contact Nerys Levy rilevy@mindspring.com if you would like to help.
Penny and her family moved to Chapel Hill in 1998. She soon joined the Town of Chapel Hill’s Telecommunications and Technology advisory board and was appointed by the town to the OWASA board of directors where she served 6 years and held the Vice Chair position. In 2009 she ran and was elected to the town council in Chapel Hill, and in 2012 ran and was elected to the BOCC where she served 8 years, the last two as chair of the board. Penny owns and operates a personal chef and catering company and has been published in Cary Magazine, Gourmet Magazine, INDY Week, Southern Neighbor and News14. She lives in Carrboro with her mom Jersey Jacky. You can find her on Twitter and Instagram
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