![[Jan]](../images/sig.gif)
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Just came across my collection of Jan's cassette tapes, including some custom ones... I like to think it would make her happy to know my kids know her music, especailly her rounds...
Hi Jan - out there. Thinking of you today - and sharing stories of you and your mind and music and spirit. So fine! You are - enduring. Peace and thanks, always. Alan
hi I first came across your website about a year ago, and love Jan's songs and have since shared them with friends and with a community choir I work with. They're fantastic songs to sing and I wish there was an opportunity to thank Jan directly for all the joy she's brought to us through these songs. In lieu of that - thank you for running the website, and keeping her memory going. thanks Su
I found the letter that my husband received from the anonymous poet. His name was Adam V. Harman.(not Harmon)I am doing some research to try and find the family of Adam V. Harman. I have wanted to write a story about this chance meeting of an eleven year old boy on a bus and an elderly man who was an anonymous poet. I found the lost letter in one of my mother's old books. We had moved and I guess I thought it would be safe. Well it was safe.(but lost) I told my husband that my mother being the angel that she must be now since she has passed helped me find the letter.Since I found the letter my husband remembered something else about that chance meeting of he and Mr. Harman. He told me that he was terrified on that bus when it stopped because of a horrible wreck. My husband said he saw a terrible sight that disturbed him very badly and made him tremble and sick to his stomach. I am thinking that is one reason this stranger decided to talk to this eleven year old boy. It was because he could see that a little boy was alone and afraid and was so compassionate that he stepped in and started a conversation that led to a letter he sent to my husband with a special poem he wrote to that little boy and copies of other poems including one that was published in the Kansas City Defender on May 29,1959,that has been a story to teach second graders what anonymous meant, to being put in a book for safe keeping, to never being forgotten because it was such a sweet story, to we want to meet his family and show them the letter and the poems he sent to David Pearson the eleven year old boy that needed a friend at a time he was afraid. That letter had been kept in a brown box since he was eleven and his wife is so happy that she found the letter in a book of her mother's and doesn't have a knife jab in the heart every time she thinks it was her fault the little boy's greatest prize that he had kept safe for many years was finally found and put back in that same little box. It is home now with its browning paper and upside down 4cent Lincoln Stamp. I couldn't believe you still had my comment posted after so long that I had to let you know that I finally found the letter. Thanks for letting me write a short ending to the story. Of course it will have another part if we end up meeting Mr. Harman's family.
I enjoy Jan's works. They are provocative and interesting.
Jan and I spoke of the day, when we would become old, how we would sit in our rocking chairs and drink wine and listen to music. Now I am old' I miss you Jan. mary
Thank you Scott for keeping Jan's music alive. I came here to see if there was music to pass on to another Unitarian Universalist Church, and there it was, "The Together Song." Then looking at this site brought back so many wonderful memories, singing with her, laughing with her, and eating her delicious soups. I remember asking her how she got her soups to taste so wonderful, and she said it was all in cooking the onions - painfully slow to carmelize them just right. You can tell that fall is here in Maine and my mind is on "warm, nurturing" thoughts.
I love Jan's song "Wild Birds." I've lived much of my life in the Rocky Mountain west, and this song captures the flavor of big vistas and wide open spaces. And it's fun to sing!
I met Jan in 1957 and words can not convey what a warm, loving and wonderful person she was. On the 29 of August 1958 we were privileged to have her become a part of our family. I deeply mourn her passing but hope that in her journey to the other side she found Bob who she lost on 19 Sep 1959.
I loved finding this website for my wonderful friend Jan! She was one of the first people I met when I moved to Maine in 1981. She had such a bright spirit while on this earth, and tried hard to live life joyfully despite the fact that she was gravely ill. One of my fondest memories is of her sitting on my living room floor, strumming her guitar and singing to my 2-year-old daughter....I miss you, Jan.
Stars is magical -- I have the CD "On a Winter's Night", where Anne Hills et alia sing it. Googled the lyrics and found this. I'd love to hear more of Jan's choral works, and see it, and sing it if I can find three others to read it with me ...
A friend, lost, but now found through her son, her music, book, sculptures, and all that was her life. Love, always, Annie
To Scott and Alison: Haven't heard all the music samples yet but will get them all eventually. Them only want to come thru in little pieces, but a few I have completed. OK---so far, the voices are all good---and the songs very interesting. Thank you for the oportunity. I am enjoying it.--- Doug
As I looked for and read the words to "The Lollipop Tree", a tear came to my eye. My family's friendship with Jan when I was a young girl is forever etched in my memory. Many nights were spent with Jan and her guitar singing and laughing, with her ending the night (most times about 1 AM) singing The Lollipop Tree for us. I have been thinking a lot about Jan lately as my husbands Grandfather Kasper "Stranger" Malone just passed away and talking to his friends and listening to the tributes that are coming in remind me of Jan and the way she lived her life. Jan is part of my history and my memories and I will love her always. I miss those times...
I found myself missing Jan a little. Just back from my daughter's spring concert at school. A bunch of smiling, singing kids reminded me of her... like things sometimes do. I see some old friends here. I bet Jan would like this.
Lollypop Tree was my favorite song at primary school sung by my favorite teacher Mrs Nelsa Atkinson. I find the version I know is somewhat different from the original but perhaps that's because Mrs Atkinson put a little of her self into it!! Still, I will continue to sing it to my little girl not only because it is such a fun song but because it fills me with lovely memories.
I had the pleasure of knowing Jan in the the early '70's, when I was around 16. She and I were very close friends for many years, through her friendship with my parents. I remember many hours spent with her and others listening to her music's astonishing poetry, or visiting her at her home, or singing along with her at more than one Christmas. She would sing us "Lollipop Tree" without fail. I have always known my ggod fortune in being so close to her at that age, and have never taken it for granted. No one's spirit is stronger than hers, now or then.
I'd forgotten all about the soft sculptures until I saw these pictures! What a unique talent.
I was so glad to find your page because I was looking for the lyrics to The Lollypop Tree. This was my and my brother's favorite when we were in grade school. Now I have my own little boy, and I wanted him to know the song, too.. So glad to find your website!! God bless you!!
Hi Jan, So good to find you here. My middle daughter is going to be singing one of your songs with a choral group in Gouldsboro tonight and she wanted to know about you. Thankyou again, Love, Beedy
I am so delighted that the music of Jan lives on - I knew her while living in Maine in the mid-'80's, and still remember her singing her songs. Are there any songbooks or lyric books of her songs out? thanks Martha Sandefer
Hi Jan! Stopped by and found exactly what I was looking for, the words to "Wild Birds"! I received the Bok, Muir, Trickett album "And So Will We Yet" last Christmas and love WB the most. Now to tab it out for dulcimer and play it at song circle! all the best, Michael
It is such a gift to continue to find one of Jan's songs just right for every occassion. Jan is present in our work here in easternmost Maine with the Cobscook Community Learning Center (CCLC). Visit our (a bit outdated) website, www.thecclc.org. "Let us sing, come and sing, every old song you know..." Love, Alan Furth 8/02
Just said good-bye to another old friend today and stumbled on this webpage. There are no coincidences!! And the music lives on..... God bless all the spirits who sing and keep on singing. No one writes songs like Jan's....
I am currently doing a music project about Modern Composer and found your website. Its Great! Thank you for your musical notes on the web
I was wondering if you had any relatives by the name of Adam V. Harmon. He was an elderly man in 1959 that my husband met on a bus. My husband at that time was just an eleven year old boy and must have made a big impression on the man. This man sent my husband some poems and he said one of them had been published in the Kansas Defender in May of I believe 59. He was an anonymous poet he said. I checked this out quite a few years ago and there was a poem published in the defender called "Are All The Children In?" It was signed anonymous.I just thought there could be a chance that writing could be in the genes and maybe you were related. We think he was from California and was a professor or something. Thanks for your time. Karen Pearson
I came to find Harmon Publishing's correct address and stayed to reminisce a while.
It feels good to type here! This opens a door, another's memory experienced briefly. Jan must have been a beautiful individual. I hope soon to hear her music. I love crossing these places on the internet where emotion and understanding suddenly emanate out at me. I say to Jan's friends, "Thanks for this memorial and memory of her on the web." I have been touched although we never met...
You have a nice website. Thank you for letting me sign it. Jo Ann
I Came across this site while looking for one the publications in which I advertise. I was immediately moved by the depth of feeling and spirit that this person inspired in others. I find solace, spiritual strength, and joy in creating and sharing music. It is wonderful to see someone so loved and remembered through her art/music. We would all be so lucky to have such a legacy. DAVID DUCAS. CLEVELAND,OHIO
Helloooo, I haven't been here in a long time. Lovely website, Scott! Think I'll go sing a song now.
I was looking up the Harmon name and I came across Jan's page. I enjoy poetry and music so it comes to me with great happiness:) I'm happy to help her memory and words be carried on for years to come:)
It is Sunday morning, January 17, 2000. It is about ten below zero and the wind is howling. I am not sure why I began to think of Jan, but those thoughts made me type her name into the search engine that brought me here. I knew Jan many years ago, when I owned a little bookstore in Maine. She wrote many wonderful children's songs and would come to sing them for the children on Wednesday evenings. Her time here was not easy, yet she spun her straw into pure gold. A very beautiful person. Hello to all of you others who knew Jan. Aren't we lucky? Christine
I was looking at the name Harmon and I came across this site. My mother's name is Jan, and she lives presently in East Lansing, Michigan. So this caught my attention. God Bless, Matthew
Anne Dodson is here beside me introducing me to this web page. Hello to you Scott from the both of us. Greetings to you all. I have carried Jan's songs far and wide across this continent and they speak... as she did ...and does through us all.
I recently saw Bock/Muir/Trickett at the Boonville (MO) "Festival on the River" They sang "Wild Birds," which took me back to my Dad's home state of Wyoming. After doing some research, I realized that the wonderful song "Stars" that I heard on the Mangson/Hills/Herdman "Voices" album was a Jan Harmon song, too. I'm just sorry to be a posthumous fan. When I lived in California I had that problem with being a "late-comer" to the scene and just missing Kat
Jan, I still hear you everywhere...
Neat page! Ginger and I are enjoying getting to know this music, and including a few choice tunes on our upcoming "Physics Pholk Songs....and other Scienterrific Ditties" CD.
A fire called sun still shines brightly in our hearts - love to a wonderous lady
I meet with a few women every Tuesday night to "sing for our supper." We have supper together and sing rounds. Jan Harmon's songs are among our favorites. Thanks, Jan.
my friend Tony Bok sent me last year the cd "so bravely dream". I was impressed especially when I had the chance to hear them sing in Camden last autumn. You are all fine people and I wish to be there again.
Nice to finally learn about you. I wish we could have met years ago. Your cousin.
Hi Jan... Miss you gal.......
Sorry for the delay in posting a *real* guest book!