‘Spiritual mother,’ longest-serving Chicago Housing Authority commissioner honored with senior apartment building dedication

Chicago Housing Authority Commissioner Mildred Harris stands before a sign Wednesday at a newly rehabbed senior apartment building at 6360 S. Minerva Ave. in Woodlawn that will carry her name. (Pat Nabong/Sun-Times)

The Chicago Housing Authority’s long-serving commissioner, Mildred Harris, has hundreds of children, though only some are her flesh and blood, her supporters said Wednesday.

Others were taught by her in kindergarten and still more consider Harris, a community pastor, to be their “spiritual mother.”