Early Years
Jean Harmon in the lab at University of Tulsa, 1945-1946.
"Life was much simpler while I was growing up than today. There was no TV; for entertainment, we listened to the radio or went to movies...we laughed together at many comic shows on the radio. These comedians provided needed laughter during the stressfull years of the Depression and World War II." (Odyssey of a Woman Field Scientist, page 26)
Jean Langenheim was born in 1925 in Homer, Louisiana to Jeanette Smith and Vergil Wilson Harmon. The family moved to Tulsa Oaklahoma in the early 1930s. Langenheim attended Roosevelt Jr. High school, and graduated from Tulsa Central High School in 1943. She earned a BS in biology from the University of Tulsa in 1946, and married geology student Ralph Langenheim in 1946. Jean Langenheim earned an MS in 1949 and PhD in 1953, both in botany from the University of Minnesota.
Jean Harmon with her mother Janette Smith in Homer, Louisiana in 1925.
Roosevelt Jr. High School Girls Chorus, circa late 1930s.
Jean Harmon featureed in a Tulsa Community Fund flyer for Girl Scouts, late 1930s. Langenheim was a member of the Forget-Me-Not Troup during junior and high school.
Jean Harmon's desk at home with Roosevelt Jr. High awards and Tulsa Central High school pennant, 1940-1941.
Jean Harmon in Tulsa Central High school, early 1940s.
Jean Harmon graduating from Tulsa Central High school, 1943.
A page from Langenheim's college scrapbook featuring the 1943-1944 pledge class of the Tri Delta sorority at University of Tulsa.
Jean Harmon at the University of Minnesota, 1948.
"The Payoff Comes in Ph.D's for C.R. Couple," 1951. Jean and Ralph collaborated on several research projects while completing their PhD at the University of Minnesota.