Several months before her death, the mother of feminist activist Sonia Johnson begged her to stay away from Utah, saying a telephoned threat made her fear for her daughter's life.
Johnson, a former Utahn who was excommunicated from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1979, kept her promise.When Ida Harris was buried in Logan last Friday, Johnson remained in her New Mexico commune, where her mother had spent the last months of her life.
She sent along a written eulogy, however, and a friend of Harris' read it at the service, Johnson's manager, Jean Tait, said in a telephone interview Monday. Johnson was not at home and did not return a message.
Harris' fears began when she heard a rumor that her daughter was dead, Tait said. A call to New Mexico assured her Johnson was well.
"Sonia said, `Mom, this happens all the time. There are rumors I'm a prostitute, I weigh 300 pounds, and that I'm on drugs,' " Tait recalled.
But a short time later, Harris received an anonymous telephone call from a person who told her Johnson's life "wasn't worth a nickel" if she returned to Utah, Tait said.
"Ida took it deeply to heart," she said. "She felt this was not a joke. For Ida, it was real.
"She made Sonia promise never to come back," Tait said.
Last November, Harris moved to Wildfire Community, where her daughter lives with Tait and several other women in the mountains near Albuquerque. In 1990, Johnson had described herself as a lesbian, but Tait said she later had determined that depiction "was not accurate any more."
Harris died at age 86 on May 10, Mother's Day, with Johnson at her side.