Harriet Teresa Barrett Dower

Harriet Teresa Barrett was born to Frederick Woodford Barrett and Mary Madaline Farrell Barrett in Hartford, Connecticut on July 24, 1905. She graduated from New Rochelle College in 1927 and earned a master's degree from Columbia University in 1928. She taught English and Latin in New York City in 1929 and 1930 and taught at Hartford Public High School from 1930 to 1936. In 1936, she married William A. Dower in Hartford.

During World War II, she volunteered for a number of war-related organizations to help with the war effort at home. She was the chairman of the Women's Division of the War Finance Committee in Connecticut of the U.S. Treasury Department, worked with the Women's Division of the Hartford Defense Council, and with the Women's Organization for War Savings (W.O.W.S.) she served as the Bond Instruction Chairman. Her war efforts also included assisting with the opening of Victory House maintained by the Colonial Dames of Connecticut at the entrance of the Old State House on Main Street to sell war stamps and bonds and the St. Francis Hospital Women's Auxiliary.

After the war she continued her volunteer work by working with the Women's Auxiliary for the Hartford Symphony from 1948 to 1951 and she was president of the Connecticut Council of Catholic Women from 1954 to 1955. In 1972, she was awarded the Pro Ecclesia Et Pontifice recognizing her merit and service to the Roman Catholic Church. She died on October 11, 1993.