By Rebecca Goodman
The Cincinnati Enquirer

MASON - Adeline Harris was not only a teacher but a student of the world.

She taught fourth-graders and college kids and traveled the world indulging her curiosity about politics and cultures.

An intellectual with a liberal bent and an interest in socialism and communism, she stopped in Munich while touring Europe in 1936 to see what fascism was all about.

And while in Mexico in 1939, she sought to satisfy her curiosity about socialism and communism when she interviewed Leon Trotsky, a leader of the 1917 Russian Revolution and opponent of Stalin, who was living in exile there.

Ms. Harris met economist Harold Lasky (creator of Fabian Socialism), studied art in Italy, went with the second group of Americans to China after Nixon opened up travel there and visited Kenya, Russia, and Romania, in addition to the "usual trips to Europe," said her sister, Leona Harris of New York.

Ms. Harris, 97, died May 18.

Born in Cincinnati in 1906 to Sadie Levy and Samuel Baer Harris, she grew up in Lawrenceburg, where she played piano for the silent movies. She graduated from Lawrenceburg High School at 16 and received her bachelor's and master's degrees, both in education, from the University of Cincinnati.

While teaching in Cincinnati, Ms. Harris studied at Columbia University's Teachers' College and received a doctoral degree in education.

Afterward she taught at the college level in Connecticut and at the famed Little Red Schoolhouse in Mohawk, N.Y. Forced to return to Cincinnati when her father fell ill, she began teaching in the Cincinnati Public Schools.

"It made no difference to her whether it was college kids or fourth or fifth grades," her sister said.

Although Ms. Harris was interested in socialism and communism, she never joined the Communist Party. But during the McCarthy era of the 1950s, she destroyed many of her books out of fear that she would be caught up in the anti-communist movement.

"She was a shade under 5 feet tall, but full of life," said her cousin, Dan Neman of Richmond, Va. "She had a heart attack at 80, but recovered and continued to live well and travel afterward. At 90, she had a quintuple bypass, which are rarely performed on someone that age."

Ms. Harris lived her last few years at Cedar Village. "She always lived very much like a lady in those last 30 years," her sister said. "Until the end, she wanted to live with a certain graciousness."

In addition to her sister and cousin, survivors include nieces and nephews.

A memorial service is 3 p.m. Sunday at Cedar Village Retirement Community, 5467 Cedar Village Drive, Mason.

E-mail rgoodman@enquirer.com