Aila Boyd
aboyd@mainstreetnewspapers.com
Friendship Retirement Community dedicated the Jane Morgan Harris Daylily Garden on Tuesday, June 23, honoring the nurse and founder of Richfield Living whose work helped shape health care in the Roanoke Valley.
The dedication was part of Friendship’s 60th anniversary celebration and recognized leaders whose compassion and service continue to influence the organization’s mission.
According to Friendship, Richfield Living’s history began in 1934 when Harris assisted a mother giving birth in an abandoned gas station. Moved by the lack of accessible health care for women and families with limited financial means, she established a care facility in a farmhouse on what later became the Richfield campus. That effort eventually grew into Richfield Living, which served older adults throughout the region for decades.
Friendship welcomed Richfield Living into its nonprofit organization in 2023. The organization said its commitment to providing care for older adults, including those who outlived their financial resources, reflected the same spirit of compassion and service that inspired Harris more than 90 years earlier.
While a chapel on the campus once bore Harris’ name, no permanent tribute remained after campus renovations. The Jane Morgan Harris Garden now serves as a lasting memorial to one of the Roanoke Valley’s earliest female health care pioneers.
The garden was recognized by the American Daylily Society as a Historic Display Garden and featured more than 500 daylily cultivars, including varieties dating to 1938.
The ceremony included live music by musicians from the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra, opportunities for guests to tour the historic garden, and heavy hors d’oeuvres and fellowship following the dedication.
