Williard Henry Harris

Memories with Pastor Glenn Walden of San Jacinto Church of Christ officiating. Burial will follow in Llano Cemetery. Arrangements are by

Griggs-Schooler-Gordon Funeral Directors, 5400 S. Bell St.Bill was born March 4, 1927, in Amarillo to Williard and Mary Elizabeth

Harris. Bill grew up in the Bivins neighborhood. He had many childhood friends that he played with, rode bikes, fished and played ball. The

neighborhood kids, along with Bill and his two sisters, Peggy and Pat, had a bicycle group called "The Bivin's Bicycle Bunch." Bill's family

and friends also spent time at their cabin at Palo Duro Club, fishing and having cook outs.

Bill's grandfather and father owned Harris Food Grocery stores in Amarillo and several others in surrounding towns. Bill stocked and

bagged groceries at the Harris grocery store until he left to attend high school at New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell, N.M. After high

school, he was drafted into the Army and served in World War II. After discharge from the Army, Bill attended Amarillo College and received an

associate degree in business. He met June Meyers and they were married. He and June moved to northeast New Mexico, where he was the manager of

their families' ranch, the Mary Harris Ranch. The Mary Harris Ranch is a glorious, sprawling ranch where the Dry Cimarron river runs at the base

of the Black Mesas. June and Bill were married for 24 years before she passed away. He continued to live in Clayton, N.M., after her death and

ran the Mary Harris Ranch in Union County for more than 60 years. Bill was an avid airplane enthusiast. He had a student pilot's license

and flew with Bill Wheatley in Clayton in his younger years. He loved vintage WWII planes. Bill read flying magazines and spent a lot of time

at the Clayton airport with Edward Sisneros, admiring the planes that flew in. In fact, Bill could identify WWII era planes by the sound of

their engines as they flew by. Often, you would see Bill drinking morning coffee with his friends in

Clayton. The topics of discussion include the price of hay, rain prospects and cattle prices. He enjoyed taking daily morning walks to

the airport with his beloved dog Duke. Bill always visited the local sick and elderly. He and members of Church of Christ spent many Sunday

afternoons singing hymns and visiting the residents of the retirement home in Clayton. Bill served as a great example to his children. As a business owner, he

worked hard, solved problems and never complained. His children never went without. At the end of his life, Bill lived in The Cottages at

Quail Creek in Amarillo, where he brought joy to the staff with his cowboy humor. Bill will truly be missed by his children and

grandchildren and all that knew him. He was preceded in death by his parents; and a sister, Mary Patricia Harris. Survivors include two sons, Williard David and wife Dallas of Avondale, Ariz., and William Harris and wife Vanessa of Wimberley; two daughters, Sally Werner and husband Jan of Amarillo and Ginger Stinnett and spouse Pam of Lubbock; a sister, Peggy Nance and husband Jim; seven grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

Arrangements under the direction of Griggs-Schooler-Gordon Funeral Directors, Amarillo, TX.