Dan Edgar Harrington

It was one of the defining moments of his life. When the city of Houston, Texas called for enlistments to replace the heavy cruiser USS Houston, Dan was among five high school students who vowed to enlist that day. His mother, Ollie L Freels was the only parent who signed the papers. A boy of seventeen in the spring of 1942, he was sworn in on Memorial Day alongside one thousand “Houston Volunteers.” He’s in the lower right of the frontpage picture in the Houston Post published the next day. The new sailors marched down Main Street and boarded five trains, bound for basic training in San Diego. He served on destroyers in the South Pacific. He saw action from Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands to Okinawa. But his stories about the war were mostly humorous anecdotes, self-deprecating, and retold countless times for the family. He was hugely affected by the war, and it affected his choices in later life.

Daniel was a late gift to the family on July 18, 1924, nine years after his next older brother. He lived with his father, John Timothy Harrington and his brothers Jack, Paul and Phillip after his parents divorced in 1931. He was seven years old. His father died when Daniel was twelve, and he went to live with his mother in 1937.

Daniel developed a lifelong aversion to beer. He was the designated siphon operator of his father’s homemade beer brewing operation. It made Daniel a bourbon drinker, usually with just a touch of “Texas branch water.” But always in moderation, like most of his habits.

A prolific artist from the beginning, he loved cartooning, and made contributions to the school paper. While still in high school, he served as a copy boy and submitted cartoons to the Houston Post. The newspaper published a couple of his messages from the war. Before the war, he worked as an usher at the Majestic Theater in Houston. A feature story and picture in the press shows Daniel doing caricatures of movie guests in the lobby. Dan’s portfolio includes artwork from his wartime experience. Illustrations and cartoons appeared in training publications and ship newsletters. He did a remarkable series of pen and ink drawings of everyday life aboard his destroyer, the USS Wedderburn. He experimented with different media. Pastels, oils, and acrylics are among his works. After he moved to High Point, North Carolina in 2006, he expanded his repertoire to include watercolor portraits. He was deeply admired for his ability and generosity. Dan would take pictures of everyone from daily life; friends, store clerks, home workmen, whomever he encountered. Later they would be surprised with a free portrait.

Daniel had a brief war time romance and marriage in 1945. He then married his wife of sixty-three years, Vera Dannette Rives (Dannie) in Houston in 1946. They had two children, Brian Timothy and Dannell Kay. They bought a suburban ranch home in southwest Houston on the GI Bill in 1955 and lived there for over forty years.

One of his often-repeated regrets was that he never formally trained as an artist. He was accepted to the Chicago Institute of Art, but classes were full of returning GI’s and he was waitlisted for two years. He and Dannette started a family and the art school dream fell away. He went to work for Gordon’s Jewelry Company, doing advertising art. There, he met Bob Miller and they became

lifelong friends. The two families considered themselves cousins, and both men were referred to by the family as Uncle.

Dan worked for the Humble Oil Company, which became Exxon-Mobil. He worked there for 32 years. He retired at age fifty-eight, and was a proud Exxon annuitant. He drew a pension longer than he worked there. In the nineteen-sixties, an engineer was named manager of the art department. The new manager took a disliking to Daniel and removed him from all duties. Rather than quit, Dan spent a year dutifully going to the office and working on his family genealogy, for which we are duly grateful. The engineer was moved out, and his favorite boss, Lawrence Froelich moved in. That resulted in many years of enjoyable productivity. Dan edited the company’s employee newsletter. He spent a couple of wonderful years cataloging Exxon’s art collection, traveling, and clawing back artwork from executive’s homes.

Harrington was nationally recognized as a calligrapher. He did elaborate proclamations and recognition works for many clients. Notable were his many efforts for Houston area medical centers and their board of director members. He taught students gold leaf techniques and was adept at elaborate coloring. He earned a second income for his calligraphy, which he used to pay for his children’s college.

Daniel and his wife, Dannie were dedicated to family. They provided emotional and financial support through the years. They contributed to all their grandchildren’s college educations. Dan practiced a trickle-down car distribution for the family. He would buy a new car, or help with a purchase, and then pass along his old car to someone in the family. He established endowments of Exxon stock for each grandchild at their birth, along with a bottle of Jack Daniels to be opened at their 21st birthday.

Dan found a new love at age ninety. He met Matilda (Terry) Haddican in Islamorada, Florida at the annual family holiday gathering. Fortunately, she lived about one hour from him in North Carolina. They enjoyed a five-year romance until she passed. He spent many happy weekends at her place in Seven Lakes, NC.

Dan was a lifelong practicing Catholic. He was born and raised in Houston, Texas. His father’s family was from Painted Post, New York, his mother from Montgomery County, Kansas. He is survived by his daughter Dannell Kay Copeland and his daughter-in-law Alix Harrington, widow of his son Brian Timothy Harrington. His grandchildren include Timothy Harrington and his wife Tiffani, Dash Copeland and his wife, Gretchen, Katie Copeland and her partner Love Sootalu, and Emily Copeland and her partner Ryan Powers. He has four grandchildren and six great grandchildren. A favorite joke was to introduce Joe Copeland as “my number one son-in-law, well… actually my only son-in-law.”

Dan celebrated his 100th birthday on July 18, 2024 and died July 28, 2024. He will be interred next to his wife Vera Dannette Rives in Houston, Texas alongside their son. They are buried in Forest Park Lawndale Cemetery.