Marilyn Jo Jackson Harrison, 85, of Chattanooga, Tennessee, passed away in the early hours on July 26, 2023, one day after celebrating her 59th wedding anniversary with her husband Ken Harrison. They met at ballroom dancing lessons and continued dancing throughout their lives. Even after Parkinson's robbed her of the ability to walk, she could still dance with her husband.
She was born on February 11, 1938, in Falling Water, TN to Luther H. Jackson and Mary Eloise Jackson. Her extended family includes siblings, cousins, second cousins, and her arts and music families. There were no "small" family gatherings with Marilyn.
As a child of the Depression, Marilyn grew up wanting to make the arts accessible to everyone and was a force of nature in her advocacy. Her career as an arts administrator began by finding funding to bring artists-in-residence to the elementary school of her children. From there, she helped found the United Arts Council in Raleigh, N.C. She was embedded in the arts community, serving as the vice president of the Wake County Arts Council until she retired in 2000 to move back to Chattanooga with her husband to be closer to their families.
Retirement didn't stick. Marilyn started working at Allied Arts (now Arts Build) and was there for 12 years until her Parkinson's disease forced her to fully retire. While there, she led the creation of the Holmberg Arts Leadership Institute and secured grants which led to the establishment of Imagine Chattanooga 20/20. In 2003, she was one of the original architects and committee members for the Chattanooga Public Art Plan which led to the creation of the city’s first Public Art Program housed at Allied Arts. During her years on the Public Art Committee, she was instrumental in securing an NEA federal place-making grant for creating "The Main Terrain" park, a greenspace that features interactive monumental art in the Chattanooga southside.
Through the Public Art Committee, she became involved with The Passage, a public art project created for the 21st Century Waterfront Plan in 2005. This project was a collaboration with Cherokee artists from Locust Grove, OK to celebrate Cherokee history, culture, art, and life. Like much of her work, this was about building relationships. She hosted the artists from Team Gadugi (A Cherokee word meaning “working together”) in her home and maintained friendships with them afterward.
On a national scale, Marilyn worked with Americans for the Arts to build a "Local Arts Index" and create the "Arts and Economics and Prosperity Report IV," both of which continue to touch countless lives. She believed the arts should be accessible and inclusive for everyone.
Her passion and appreciation for art knew no boundaries. Marilyn and Ken traveled abroad at every opportunity, visiting Germany, St. Petersburg, France and anywhere else they could go. A constant refrain to her children was to look up and "absorb" the culture they traveled through. She looked for and found beauty everywhere.
The home she shared with Ken is filled with a beautifully curated collection of art from local artists and potters. Her area of special interest was in North Carolina pottery from the Seagrove region. She especially loved a form called a "face jug," which originated among enslaved potters as a way of marking graves. Her remains will be interred at Silverdale Cemetery in a face jug by one of her favorite potters, Vernon Owens.
Marilyn is survived by her husband, Ken Harrison, and her children, Mary Robinette Kowal, Stephen K. Harrison, and their respective spouses, Robert Kowal and Jamie Harrison. She is also survived by her granddaughter, Katherine Harrison, and grandsons Peter Harrison and Elliott Harrison. Marilyn was preceded in death by her father, Luther H. Jackson, her mother, Elois Jackson, and her siblings, Don Jackson, James Jackson, Gilbert Jackson, and Genevieve Chastain.
The visitation will be held at the family home on August 5th from 10:00-11:30 followed by a graveside ceremony at Silverdale Cemetery at noon.
Marilyn Jo Harrison has stopped her dancing but her advocacy continues. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations in her name to Arts Build so she can continue funding the local art and artists she cared so deeply about.
Please share your thoughts and memories online at www.ChattanoogaValleyViewChapel.com
Arrangements by Chattanooga Funeral Home, Crematory & Florist, Valley View Chapel, 7414 Old Lee Highway, Chattanooga, TN 37421.