Lawrence Harris

Lawrence R. Harris, 1934-2022, enjoyed a great eighty-eight-year ride on this Earth before being called to his final rest in early November. He is survived by his loving wife of over sixty years, five kids, seven grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

Larry was a true character. He was the brightest personality in any room he entered. Anyone who ever met him would recall how at ease he made them feel. Larry never met a stranger and his sense of humor always brought a laugh to any situation.

Larry also loved to sing…in his own key. You could find him in the church choir singing bass, and also in the Dunnellon Chorale for many years. His singing voice wasn’t loud, but the rest of the choir was a great complement to his style. What he didn’t have in talent, he made up for in enthusiasm.

Speaking of church, Larry was a deeply religious man. He completed an intense 4-year college-level Bible study program and was very proud of his accomplishment. The Episcopal Church was his home on Sunday mornings, but in the afternoons NASCAR was his revival.

It’s true that Larry loved anything with a motor. His kids can’t recall how many times they went to Lancaster Speedway or to the Niagara River to see speedboat races, but it was a lot. His love of speed started when he was old enough to drive. He acquired motorcycles and cars…and speeding tickets. Yep, he loved to drive fast, and in one year got three tickets. His sister made him a ceramic mug with the nickname “Speedy” on it. The mug resided for years in the family’s northern Michigan cottage and was a source of pride.

For most of his eighty-eight years, Larry literally drove his way through life. He could handle nearly anything with an internal combustion engine and he made it look easy. Larry, or “The Flaky Red Rabbit” as his CB radio friends knew him, sat behind the wheel of an 18-wheeler for over thirty years. He won Driver of the Year for the Northeast region and placed third nationally. He also attained a rare feat of over three million accident-free miles. However, it must be said that nowhere in his award did it state how many accidents he caused. The world may never know…

Larry had an incredible ability to remember every road he’d ever been on. No joke! The man was a walking road map. In fact, he was drafted into the US Army in the 1950s and served in Germany. Thirty years later, one of his sons was stationed in Germany. When Larry and his wife visited, he could recall all the roads and buildings from his time there. He also knew more of the German language than his son ever did. As Larry would tell it, no one spoke English back in his day and if he wanted anything other than chow hall food, he’d need to be able to order it. He was still ordering in German after thirty years absence, by the way.

At one point in his long driving career, Larry drove for Greyhound. It was during the turbulent 1960s that he was tasked to drive people from Buffalo, NY, down to Washington D.C. for a civil rights march. Larry said he had a great time driving those activists. He would love to tell us how he led the passengers in song during the drives down and back. We’re sure they had a great time. How couldn’t they when they were singing, probably off-key, with Larry? He didn’t participate in the march or hear the famous “I have a dream” speech, but he said he felt like he was a small part of history none-the-less.

Aside from driving vehicles, Larry also drove his family crazy. Whenever he came back from being out on the road, his music choice was easy listening. That’s right, not music from his generation—that would never do. No pop, rock, jazz, or any other type of music would make him feel good. It was easy listening, or as the kids called it, elevator music. There was a local radio station that made the kids groan and roll their eyes whenever Larry turned the dial. In fact, all his children can do a great impersonation to this day of the radio station’s call sign: “WJYE, the joy of Buffalo.”

When Larry wasn’t torturing the family with his music choices, he would take them on adventures. Larry grew up in Michigan and there were many times he drove his family back there to the family cottage. The kids never knew why he wanted to go so often. Every time he went, his mother had a backlog of tasks to be completed. Larry worked hard and never got much vacationing in, but perhaps he enjoyed the satisfaction of a job well done.

Larry also liked to take the family to the Welland Canal where the ships were so close it felt like you could touch them. Speaking of nautical stuff, Larry loved boats (the ones with motors, mostly). He owned a few of them and frequently took the family out on trips. There are some great memories of going to a spot past Grand Island where a sign warns “No Boats Beyond this Point.” Niagara Falls was a short trip away and we always stared nervously at the mists rising from the falls, but he kept us safe. Also, no one will forget traveling down a canal at a crawl just to get a great hamburger, or the many times docking at Beaver Island. Because Larry loved boating, he also served in the US Coast Guard Auxiliary as a volunteer helping to assist other boaters.

Larry had great big hands, by the way. They were strong and resembled baseball mitts. He could crush another hand in his grip and often did that with the kids, laughing the whole time. He never hurt us though. It was all in fun. Most of all, we felt protected in those big hands and knew we could always count on him.

Being a truck driver, he was a mythic-like character to his young kids in the 1970s. Movies and songs were made about his profession. Smokey and the Bandit, White Line Fever, Convoy, and Rubber Duck were just a few that made us certain he was doing hero’s work! We got bragging rights at school because our dad was a truck driver.

Larry was never one to shy away from work. No job was beneath him, and he had an inexhaustible spirit to complete any task (which might be why he did all that work at the cottage). His spirit to live was just as bright. Maybe it was genetics or lifestyle (probably both) that saw him go under the surgeon’s blade more times than mere mortals should be allowed. But he made all his doctors look good. He survived four open-heart surgeries as well as many others. He would always say “I don’t give up,” and he never did.

Larry was also a lucky man. He married the best woman in the world (she did not write this but it’s true). They met in Buffalo, NY, and that’s where their life started. They enjoyed great times, and perhaps an unfair amount of laughter, tragedy, separation, and love. They were married over sixty years and raised five children together. They once drove from Buffalo to San Francisco and back in his 18-wheeler, and they didn’t even file for divorce!

After many years of Buffalo winters, they decided a warmer climate was needed. Like so many older people and their parents, the Harrises packed up and moved to Florida where retirement life was great. One of their sons moved down with his wife and children a few years later, and Grandma and Poppa got to revel in the joy of watching their grandchildren grow into young adults. Poppa often spoke of how lucky he was to be loved by all his kids. Poppa, you’ll be glad to know all your kids felt equally lucky to have you in their lives for so long!

There are many, many more things we could say about our dad and poppa. He was a great reader, having found books late in life, and he read more than fifty of them in the last year alone. Louis L’Amour was his favorite author. One of his granddaughters loved talking about books with him, as did one of his daughters-in-law. He had a storehouse of roadmaps in his head, and whenever family intended to drive anywhere, he’d tell us the best roads to take. To heck with that GPS in our phones!

He also loved a good peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and he still loved easy listening, much to our consternation. He enjoyed model trucks and tractors, working diligently to put them together and paint the delicate parts. He and Mom also did jigsaw puzzles, especially the big ones, and he enjoyed playing games on his iPad. He was, we have to report, an absolute shark at UNO. He’d snicker when he hit you with a Draw Four, then apologize like it was an accident. It wasn’t, but it made us laugh and that’s something you can never get enough of.

He was a kind, gentle, loving man who made a deep impression on more lives than we can begin to count. If we told all the stories and good memories, it would take an entire book. Unfortunately, none of us have the talent to write a perfect sonnet about his life. But we don’t have to. Better words than we can say have been said by others, so we’ll drop a few of them here.

“Good-night sweet prince / And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.”

William Shakespeare

We will miss you more than we can say, Dad/Poppa. Say hello to Mr. Shakespeare, enjoy talking about westerns with Mr. L’Amour, and hug your family who went before you. We love you forever.

An Inurnment Service will be held on December 3, 2022, at 2:00 PM, at Episcopal Church of the Advent, 11251 SW Hwy 484, Dunnellon, FL 34432.

In lieu of Flowers, please make a donation to the American Heart Association c/o Lawrence R. Harris.