As a young woman of the Great Depression, Irene Harrower took a bus from a rural town in Arkansas to New York City. That trip ultimately catapulted her career — and dream — as a professional singer into reality.
Irene Harrower, 87, a longtime Atlanta resident and lyric soprano, died Feb. 14 with her family by her side. A memorial service will be held at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 435 Peachtree St. NE, March 11 at 2:00 p.m.
“A lot of who she was, was instilled in her as a young woman from the Great Depression,” Julie Diaz, Harrower’s daughter, said. Diaz fondly recalls her mother’s charismatic personality and dimple-filled smile.
Forgoing the “traditional path” of a 1950s woman, her mother was ahead of her time, Diaz told the AJC. “At that time, for women, you either became a teacher, a wife, maybe a — I don’t know what else in those days. For her to break out of that was huge.”
Harrower got her musical start singing with the Methodist church in Arkansas, and it was her supporters who helped raise enough money to send her to New York to pursue her singing career. She worked as a typist to pay the bills while she took auditions.
Many who knew her called Harrower a “force of nature.” That drive was what earned her the Fulbright Scholar award in 1954, which took her to Rome, Italy, to study music.
She performed with companies across Europe including the Teatro dell’Opera and the Orchestras of Radio-Television Italy.
In Rome, she met and fell in love with a bass-baritone, Peter Harrower, who was also studying music under the Fulbright Scholarship. Irene married Peter in 1957, and a few years later returned to his hometown, Atlanta, to care for his ill mother.
Diaz said her mother had all these “incredible opportunities” from New York to Rome, and returning to the States was “not really part of the plan,” but the musical duo made one of life’s unexpected twists work for them.
“They had a really lovely career in the states,” she said, performing with the likes of the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Chicago Opera. For many years, Harrower and her husband, who had many friends within the Jewish community, also shared their love of music in temple and sang there on occasion.
They founded the Harrower Summer Opera Workshop at Georgia State University’s School of Music in 1988. It is still a staple summer program today.
When Teri Hopkin met Harrower, she said, “I just wanted to find a teacher who would help me be a better choral singer.” But Harrower saw more. Hopkin, a longtime student of Harrower’s and former musical instructor for GSU and Emory, said Harrower’s standards were “extraordinarily high.
“She dragged me kicking and screaming and crying into the discipline to become what she knew I could be and I didn’t have any idea at that time … She challenged us. She knew what we could do. She saw the potential and she challenged us to reach our potential.”
Harrower’s balance of life, work and giving to the community inspired Hopkin to stay in contact. “Not every student has a teacher like Irene.”
Diaz said you can really get to know somebody through their personal finances, and her late mother’s checkbook was revealing. She found continued contributions to the agency she and her brother were adopted from as well as to Save The Trees Atlanta and other organizations. “She cared very much about the community, environment, and wanted to use any platform she had to make a difference in the world,” Diaz said.
In a speech a few years ago, Harrower wrote: “On achieving this advanced age, I’m disappointed that I’m not wiser or more accomplished, but such dissatisfaction piques ambition, curiosity, and desire to grow, so that makes me feel young and hopeful.”
“That was Irene,” her daughter said. “Always striving to be better.”
In addition to her daughter Julie Diaz, Harrower’s survivors include her son Richard Stillwell Harrower of Augusta; grandsons Peter Manuel and Gabriel Andres; and nieces and nephews Gretchen Irene Peacock of Sharpsburg, Ga.; Carol Jean Isom, Richard Callaway and Reba Jane Callaway Driver of Little Rock Ark.; and Billy Hargis of Houston, Texas.
About the Author
