THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 15, 1995 TAG: 9509150557
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: SHACKLEFORDS LENGTH: Medium: 64 lines
A minister who was killed when a plane carrying skydivers crashed into his house was remembered Thursday as a deeply religious man who was ready to face death.
Vincent Lee Harris Sr. ``died knowing the Lord,'' the Rev. Arthur K. Roane said at Harris' funeral. ``Thank you, Lord, for what he stood for.''
Roane, an evangelist who often worked with Harris, said the loss was especially troubling because Harris was a fellow clergyman.
``It does something to you inside,'' he told about 500 people at the First Baptist Church of Hockley, where the 44-year-old Harris was an associate pastor. Harris' duty was to visit prisoners in jail and to travel to other places to talk about God.
``Vincent Harris left a legacy,'' said Roane. ``He left a legacy that will go forth. Any time you have a legacy and you have Jesus at the head of it, that legacy will go forth.''
Harris' steel-gray casket was covered by an American flag. Flowers ringed both sides of the brick church's altar.
Roane said he had been unable to visit the crash site because he couldn't believe it happened. But he said he knows Harris is now ``communicating with the one that has all the power in his hands.''
Roane and other speakers urged Harris' wife, Virginia, his 15-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son, and his brothers and sisters to remain faithful during this adversity.
``If Vincent were standing in our midst, he would be rejoicing, and he would encourage us to fight through our pain and our tears,'' said the Rev. Keith Parham, pastor of the Hockley church.
Parham asked the congregation to pray for Harris' family, ``and all of the other 11 families who grieve as we do.''
Patricia Edwards, the clerk of the church, read a sampling of the dozens of condolence messages the family has received. One called the crash ``a tragic event for us, but a victorious event for him.''
As mourners shouted ``Amen'' and ``Hallelujah,'' soloist Jerome Davis sang a modified rendition of the hymn ``I Am Redeemed.''
``If anyone asked Vincent just who he was,'' Davis sang, ``he told them, `I am redeemed.' ''
Harris, the plane's pilot and all 10 skydivers aboard were killed Sunday in an early evening crash about 1 1/2 miles from the West Point Airport in rural King and Queen County.
Harris was sitting on the back porch while his son played in the yard when the twin-engine plane apparently developed an engine problem and nosedived into his house and burst into flames.
The house and aircraft were destroyed. ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Vincent Lee Harris Sr.'s wife, Virginia, left, and daughter, Valisa,
watch as his coffin is loaded into a hearse after a church service
Thursday in Shacklefords. About 500 people attended the service at
the First Baptist Church of Hockley, where the 44-year-old Harris
was an associate pastor.
by CNB