Daphne Harrison Pfaff

Daphne Harrison Pfaff , 90, died Nov 8 in Naples. With her passed "Fl'w'r Chile" and "SsizzZ", her clown personas, with whom she created, trained and coordinated more than 150 other clowns over two decades in the Clowns On Rounds program at NCH Hospitals. Daphne was born in Lockport, NY, granddaughter of the inventor of the hexagonal core auto radiator universally used today; daughter of one of the WWII British scientists who created LORAN, the Long Range Navigation system only displaced by GPS. She was a graduate of the Ogonz School (now Penn State/Abington); was a math/chem major at Wells College; a portrait artist, actor/director and computer graphic designer. She moved to Naples in the mid-1960s and over the next five decades volunteered as a teacher, mentor and officer with organizations as varied as the David Lawrence Center Telephone Hotline, the Mental Health Association, early iterations of the Women's Abuse Shelter and Botanical Gardens; the American Ivy Society, Bay Investment Club, ZONTA Club, Toastmasters, NCH Hospitals, Immokalee Friendship House and Childrens' Advocacy Center. She was a founder of Greater Naples Leadership and recipient of Philanthropist of the Year, Woman Achiever and Woman of the Year awards. She created the Daphne Scholarship Fund for head-of-household mothers. She was predeceased by her parents and sister, Diana Harrison of Naples and Fairfax, VA. She is survived by her husband of 46 years, David N. Pfaff; children: Carolyn Ann "Muffin" Schmidt (Roger) of Arapahoe, NC; Charles "Chip" Page (Lisa); Lise Page Eichenlaub (Stevan Rush); Susan Pfaff Rojas (Rick) all of Naples; five grandsons, four great-grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews in the US, UK, France and Australia. Services will be at St Johns Episcopal Church, Park Shore Dr at Crayton Rd on Saturday, Nov 19 at 10AM. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Daphne Fund at Community Foundation of Collier County, 1110 Pine Ridge Rd, Naples, FL 34108 or Childrens' Advocacy Center, 1034 6th Ave No, Naples, FL 34102.