Jill Harris Memorial Fund: Helping Allergy & Anaphylaxis Awareness and Epipen Availability

Jill Harris took up space in every room she walked into. She was loud, hilarious, opinionated, passionate, and beloved by everyone who got close enough to know her. She also used every bit of that space to take care of other people. "Citizen Jill" started as an inside family joke about how she was always the one who did the right thing for whoever needed it — a stranger, a neighbor, anyone. The joke became the truth of how she lived.

Born in New York City on August 31, 1951, she moved west and built her life in Stockton, California. She raised three children with her husband John — the love of her life for nearly fifty-one years — and spent her career in education at Tully C. Knowles School and across the Lincoln Unified School District. Generations of Stockton kids passed through her care and were a little better off for her being there.

For nearly seventeen years, Jill was the most reliable line of defense for her granddaughter Lucy's serious peanut allergy. She carried the EpiPen everywhere she went. She read every label, asked every question, double-checked every meal. In all those years, she never once assumed anyone else had it covered.

On April 28, 2026, Jill died from anaphylaxis during a routine eye appointment. She had a rare reaction to a contrast dye. The clinical team did not recognize the reaction in time, and no epinephrine was administered in the window that would have saved her. The autopsy was clear: her heart and arteries were strong. She did not die because she was old or sick. She died because of a recognition failure — the exact failure she had spent two decades guarding Lucy against.

The cruel irony is not lost on us. The person who carried the EpiPen for everyone else was failed by the very system she trusted to recognize what was happening. We are channeling our grief and our anger into work that closes that gap.

In her memory, our family is supporting nonprofit organizations focused on anaphylaxis recognition training, epinephrine access in schools and public spaces, allergy awareness, and education programs that show up for kids — the things Jill spent her life on, and the things that, if more widely understood and more accessible, would have changed the outcome of that afternoon.

100% of every dollar donated goes directly to the chosen nonprofits. The family covers all platform and processing costs.

If you knew Jill, this is a way to honor her. If you didn't, this is a way to help make sure the next person — someone's mother, someone's grandmother, someone's daughter — doesn't die the same way.

In loving memory of Jill Harris (1951 — 2026). citizenjill.org