'Montgomery is a better community' because of Gerri Harbison: City to unveil statue

Jeanne Houck, Cincinnati Enquirer

July 1, 2022 at 3:16 PM·3 min read

Here's a sketch of a statue of former Montgomery mayor Gerri Harbison sculpted by Blue Ash artist Tom Tsuchiya.

Former Montgomery mayor Gerri Harbison's service to her community has a great origin story.

She launched her career in politics and volunteerism after surveying an annual Fourth of July Little League baseball game and deciding the city could do better.

After returning home from festivities in Montgomery Park, Harbison noted to her husband that the game had featured just one vendor serving cans of soda out of a cooler and hot dogs, City Manager Brian Riblet said.

“’There should be so much more than that’,” Riblet said Harbison added.

“And so it began.”

Former mayor Gerri Harbison served the community for a quarter century.

What began was more than a quarter-century of service to Montgomery from Harbison, including supervising the city’s annual Fourth of July festival for 25 years.

Now, the Montgomery community thinks there should be more done to recognize Harbison, who died unexpectedly in January 2021 at the age of 63.

She was still on Montgomery City Council at the time of her death.

City officials, business leaders and residents raised $85,000 in donations to commission a life-size bronze statue of Harbison sitting on a bench in Montgomery Park.

Fittingly, she’s overlooking a baseball field and city hall.

Blue Ash sculptor Tom Tsuchiya made statue

The statue made by sculptor Tom Tsuchiya of Blue Ash will be unveiled at Montgomery’s Fourth of July celebration at noon Monday, July 4, in Montgomery Park at 10105 Montgomery Road.

“When Gerri passed, our Montgomery family and community lost a champion and dear friend,” Riblet said.

“She left her imprint on our organization and our community. This statue will ensure her legacy will forever live on.”

Blue Ash sculptor Tom Tsuchiya works on a representation of Jesus that served as the model for a statue at Solid Rock Church in Monroe.

Tsuchiya sculpted the statues of Cincinnati Reds players at Great American Ball Park and a statue of former Cincinnati City Councilwoman and activist Marian Spencer in Smale Riverfront Park.

He also sculpted the 51-foot-tall statue of Jesus unveiled in 2012 at Solid Rock Church in Monroe, which can be seen from Interstate 75. It replaced a statue of Jesus that burned two years earlier after being struck by lightning.

Service to Montgomery kicked off in 1994

Meanwhile, Harbison kicked off her service to Montgomery as a member of its Bicentennial Commission in 1994 and 1995.

She volunteered on multiple city boards and commissions before successfully running for Montgomery City Council in 1999. She was mayor from 2005 to 2011.

While on council, Harbison served as its liaison to the city’s financial planning, parks and recreation, government affairs and law and safety committees.

Harbison joined Montgomery’s Sister Cities Commission and led the Bastille Day Celebration in 1999, when she was chair.

She led cultural exchanges with Montgomery’s Sister City, Neuilly-Plaisance, France, four times between 1999 and 2014.

Harbison was a charter member of the Montgomery Chamber of Commerce, founded in 2008, and an original member of the city’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee, formed in 2018.

She was a real estate agent for Huff Realty, and also a hospice volunteer.

In 2016, the Rotary Club of Northeast Cincinnati named Harbison “Citizen of the Year.”