Harriett Fay Woodcock

Graveside services will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Monday, June 6, 2011 for Harriet Fay Woodcock, 84, who died June 2, 2011, at New Horizon's North Nursing Home following an extended illness. The Rev. Doug Dailey will officiate.

A native of Gainesville, Ga., Miss Woodcock was born at Downey Hospital on March 2, 1927, to John Benyan Woodcock and Harriet Fay Simmons Woodcock. She is preceded in death by both parents and brother, John B. Woodcock, Jr.



Harriet is remembered by her many younger Statesboro, Ga. cousins, whom she frequently visited thru the

years, as a creative story teller, enthralling them with tales about her experiences at Camp Takeda and

making up children's stories to capture their imaginations.



Musical talent was abundant in the Simmons clan. Grandfather Phil Simmons crafted a violin from a wagon

bed when Harriet's mother was young. This instrument was enjoyed and played by several family members

and was given eventually to Harriet. She has passed this "treasure" on to her great-niece, Jennifer

Woodcock.



She studied violin with her mother and piano with Eliza Holmes Feldman, both former music teachers at Brenau. As a teenager, by competing in a talent search contest held in Atlanta, Ga., she won a trip to New York City to play the violin on "The Radio Music Hall of the Air" program.



Harriet earned a degree in journalism from the University of Georgia and graduated cum laude from Brenau College with a music degree. She was a gifted theatrical play write and musical composer with a genius for humor, noted as a wit and progressive voice in the arts. She served as music chairman for the National

League of Penwomen, was an active member of the Progressive Arts Club and a founding member of the Northeast Georgia Writers Club. She played an instrumental role in establishing the Lanier Symphonette,

which became the impetus for the Gainesville Symphony Orchestra.



Some of the highlights of Harriet's musical-literary career include: "The Song of Sydney Lanier, A Musical

Operetta of Compelling Story and Lyrical Sound", presented by the Heritage Musical Theatre; "A Man of

Soul and Soil, The Story of Byron Herbert Reece", presented at the Georgia Literary Festival hi 2007. She

wrote many musicals, including "A Cruise for Cherie", which was performed on a showboat at Stone

Mountain, Ga. Outstanding local talent was showcased in these different productions. Harriet and a dear friend, Mary Ellen Collier, co-authored two children's books featuring "The Chaotic Angel".

With a passion for family and friends, Harriet often composed poems and musical works to commemorate and celebrate special events and milestones in then- lives. A lifelong Ga. Bulldog, she wrote a "fight' song

used at one of the games. She kept up with current events and continued to write poetry, even having one published while residing at the nursing home.



Survivors include her nephews, Johnny Woodcock and Larry Woodcock, their families and numerous cousins.



Those wishing to make online condolences may do so at www.littledavenport.com



Little & Davenport Funeral Home 355 Dawsonville Hwy, Gainesville, GA 30501 is in charge of arrangements.