Harriett Baird Manclark, a true daughter of the South, mother, grandmother and friend to many, passed away peacefully on Friday, July 14, 2017 at her home in San Antonio, Texas. At the age of 71, after a lifetime filled with travel, challenge, adventure and achievement, Harriett is in heaven close to her beloved mother and father and other loved ones who went before.

Harriett was born on November 7, 1945 in Greensboro, Alabama. As the daughter of a military family, Harriett and her brother, Mote Baird, grew up traveling the world. She attended Junior High School and High School in Tokyo and stayed connected with lifelong friends she made there. Constant changing of schools, States and even countries were challenging but the adventure of discovering new places and making new friends created a deep wellspring of confidence and openness she had throughout her life. Harriett graduated from Douglas MacArthur High School in San Antonio, Texas and from Texas Christian University in Ft. Worth, Texas with an Education degree. She was proud to be a member of the Pi Beta Phi sorority while at TCU and maintained her connection with the Pi Beta throughout her life. After graduation from college, she taught school in San Antonio. Teaching became a lifetime passion and she taught every age, from preschoolers to college students. She received a Master's in Education at Auburn University in Montgomery, Alabama and continued to teach at the collegiate level.

While in San Antonio, she met her future husband, Jack Manclark, a U.S. Air Force fighter pilot. As a young married couple, they traveled around the world with each of Jack's new assignments. She made friends all along the way, including Germany, England, Texas, Florida, Virginia and Nevada. Whereever she traveled around the world, she always considered Greensboro, Alabama as home. In Greensboro, Harriett's parents had restored a 150-year old home, "Back Acre", and it became the gathering place for the Manclark and Baird families. At Back Acre, Harriett could periodically reconnect with her Southern roots and prepare for her husband's next assignment and her next exciting adventure.

Harriett is survived by a large, loving family: her two children, Elizabeth Stoehr (and husband, Joel) and John Manclark (and wife, Amy); her three beautiful, talented and happy granddaughters: Emma, Cate and Grace Manclark; her brother, Mote Baird (and wife, Margie); numerous nieces, nephews, great nieces and great nephews: Caroline Decherd (and husband, Mike), Bill Baird (and wife, Laura), Anne Campbell (and husband, Cameron) , Michael Baird (and wife, Mallory), Cally Decherd, Josie Decherd, Lucy Decherd, Francie Decherd, Basil Baird, Archer Baird, Ingrid Baird, Marguerite Campbell, Cora Campbell and Anders Campbell; and many cousins scattered through the country.

During the last part of her life, Harriett became very involved with her Sunday School class at First Presbyterian Church in San Antonio and the friends she made as part of that weekly class were a source of great comfort and joy to her. Every week, she was excited to attend the next class and to learn something new about the Bible or Jesus or even about herself. Those who knew her best saw a beautiful change in her that was directly attributable to the positive energy she felt as part of that beloved Sunday School class.

A Memorial Service will be held on Wednesday, July 19, 2017, 4:00 pm at First Presbyterian Church, 404 North Alamo St. San Antonio, Texas. Following the Memorial Service, Harriett will be taken back to Greensboro, Alabama for a funeral service on August 5, 2017, 2:00 p.m. at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 905 Church Street, Greensboro, Alabama 36744. Following the service, she will be buried in the Newbern, Alabama Cemetery next to her mother and father.

Memorial contributions to honor Harriett may be made online to the Greensboro Opera House, www.greensborooperahouse.org.

The family wishes to express their deep gratitude to the friends and neighbors who enjoyed Harriett's company, who gave her such joy and who watched over her during her illness.

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
…I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

Kirk Funeral Homes Greensboro Chapel will be directing.