John Harris, our friend and neighbor, passed away, peacefully, October 9, 2009, in his home at Boca Raton, Florida.

John was a wonderful friend and neighbor. We have all enjoyed reading his many stories and his wicked sense of humor. His kindness and generosity will always be remembered.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, October 31, 2009, at 1:00 p.m. at Mountain Grove United Methodist Church on the Fish Hatchery Road, Morganton, North Carolina.

John leaves his mother, two sisters and their families. Notes of condolences may be sent to his family in care of his sister, Helen, and her husband, Walter Farris. Their address is 2085 Warrior Fork Trail, Morganton, N. C. 28655-9057.

Memorial contributions may be made to Berea College, CPO 2216, Berea, Kentucky, 40404.

Thanks to Heide Gorman, Sherry Copas, Karen Merlo for their help during John's passing.

   

In Memory of John Silver Harris
By Louise Kincaid Gosnell

One of the kindest people I knew, Johnny, my first cousin, will always be in my fond childhood memories.

I remember when he was born. We grew up on adjoining farms in Burke County, North Carolina.

We kept up with each other down through the years. We had similar interest, including journalism. He was a professional journalist and I was a non-professional newspaper reporter.

Johnny was a genealogist and I had an interest in the same. I found a lot of our Harris line records in my Buncombe County courthouse and published history. My search provided a hardback book on our Harris generation for Johnny to use.

Also, Johnny, my husband, Wayne, and I visited Harris "The Circuit Rider" and his horse. He was our kin and had a column in the daily newspaper and on T.V.

I was on Johnny's mailing list which included many people. These mailings included several books on the Harris and Kincaid lines. Johnny visited with us in our home at Candler, North Carolina several times.

Also, we visited him and family in Boca Raton, Florida. We met Mr. Kitty.

A humorist, Johnny mailed me church jokes. Some made it to the pulpit in my church but some jokes remained on the back pew!

I am very saddened to hear about the passing of John Harris. He was a great man and a great journalist. I loved working with him at the Boca Raton News in the late 1990s. He could always be counted on for a funny story to break the tension. I owe him a lot and will miss his sage advice and kind guidance.

Vincent F. Safuto
Ellenton, FL

Tue 10/27/2009 2:28 PM

Peter and I will truly miss John. He was so good about sending out e-mails telling of all the goings on with Berea College Alumni. We spent a wonderful day with him when we were in Florida for a week. He was so good to have us to his house and out to dinner. He and Peter went to the everglades and just had a great time talking of the good times at Berea. He just was so good at keeping up with everyone. We will truly miss those e-mails.

Peter and Cheryl Thoms
Flint, MI.

I had sent several e-mails of the passed month with no reply. I had feared John was not doing well.

I will say that John Harris will always have a very, very sweet place in our family's hearts! He was the greatest neighbor we have ever had! We past through life meeting many people but not too many that touch us like John!
Our hearts go out to those on this list!

Scott Gardner

There are several photos of John in the '53-'55 Berea CHIMES Annuals. (We were in the '56 class so don't have '52 annual.) Would think that he had those among his things--or perhaps his sisters have them as he was editor a couple of years.
Sounds like you were close with him. Condolences to you and those of the neighborhood that also were. He was a great guy!
We have good memories of John from our Berea time. When did some genealogy found out that he and Ann were distant cousins. Shared some mutual info regarding this with him several months ago.

Ann & Pete

I appreciate so much your kindness in notifying me of John Harris's death. When I could not reach him by phone, I thought he may have passed. I had several conversations with him recently. He did not complain, but, I could tell he was undergoing a very serious health challange. From what I could tell via long distance phone, he was facing that challange with the same steady courage and good humour that was his trademark all during the 52 years that we were friends.

John came to Cynthiana, Kentucky as city editor of the local newspapers, the Log Cabin and the Democrat in 1957. He was newly returned from the service which followed his attendance at historic Berea College in Central Kentucky. That college is outstanding academically. Its charter dictates that the student body will be made up solely of young men and women of superior character and intellect from homes in the Southeast of modest means.

Everybody there works in one of the college's industries. John worked in the printing operation and on the Berea Citizen, the town's weekly newspaper and one of the college's industries. Othere industries include a regional dairy, a regional bakery, and several manufacturing operations.

John's career included (after Cynthiana), ownership of a small newspaper in the Eastern Kentucky coal fields and several years on the Cincinnati Post and its suburban edition, the Kentucky Post. His writings there attracted the notice of the National Enquirer, the nation's most successful tabloid whose readership of millions of housewives who buy it with their weekly groceries at their neighborhood supermarkets. When Mike Wallace did a piece on "60 Minutes" about the Enquirer, John had just completed a 'round the world trip' in search of "Heaven on Earth." for the nationally cirulated newspaper. John was the central figure in TV documentary.

I left Cynthiana in 1960, where I was manager of the local radio station (WCYN). Among my fondest memories were the late afternoon meetings with John at one of the town's pubs. We exchanged opinions (and some gossip) about the community we reported on, he in print, me on the air. We were both in our early twenties and blest with a lot of ambition and energy. We stayed in touch over the years. In recent years, as our careers wound down and thanks to unlimited long distance calling plans, the visits became more frequent and of value to both of us peaked I'm sure. Even in retirement, John continued to hook up with some very interesting jobs. For several years, he was the small business editor of a Lake Wales newspaper and he and associate did p.r. work on a contract basis. One of their clients was boxing promoter Don King.

I'm sorry I won't be in attendance at John's service. I am sure there are many others who felt about John. He friendship was one of the most valuable possessions in my long and very full life. I'm am writing a story about John for the Cynthiana newspaper and WCYN. I am sure, even after a half a century, the are still a lot of folks in Cynthiana who remember him fondly.

Sincerely, Bob Doll and my wife Barbara

I was absolutely heartbroken to hear that John has died. I didn't even know he was ill, as he never let out a word to me in the emails we occasionally exchanged....so I was shocked to get this sad news today - and then I was truly edified to have emails from so many many people, all of whose lives he obviously touched deeply...and to read the postings you have sent along to me.

I was a colleague of John's at the National Enquirer, and have never forgotten his lanky, quiet, slow-talking presence, and the common sense he brought to our crazy newsroom! When I wrote my book a few years ago, ("Secrets of a Tabloid Reporter" -- my choicest remembrances) I had to include the wonderful story about John's most famous assignment...which he received directly from our publisher, Generoso Pope, Jr. - who owned 100% of the paper at that time and wanted the stories he wanted (and got them.) He sent John around the world "in search of Utopia." John was on the road for a long time, spent what was a huge amount of expense money at that time, 35 yrs ago (I believe it was in the neighborhood up or down, of $10,000.00)...In due course, John came back to the home office in Lantana and went into Mr. Pope's office to make his report. As Mr. Pope eagerly awaited tales of exotic paradises of various ecstatic descriptions, John delivered his conclusion, "There is no Utopia out there. Utopia is in your own back yard." Mr. Pope never ran the story!! John ambled back into the newsroom, the winner. He and I have laughed and nodded knowingly about it.

In recent years, I was so delighted when John began to email me with news of old NE colleagues and other stuff. I sent him my book and I think he was quite pleased that the tale had been set down for posterity! He was so involved and such a gentleman. I'll never forget him.

I would love to know how to add my memories to your memorial online album, and wish I could go to lovely Morganton to attend his service. i'll be there in spirit.

Sharing the loss we all feel, and sending mutual condolences to all.....

Barbara Sternig
Enquirer Senior Reporter 1975-1995

In my 60 years in the newspaper business, John was a pearl. He made me laugh and his stories about his experiances were classic. What a guy.

Alan Fayette

Johnny, as we called him then, was editor of the Pinnacle when I started at Berea. I think he was the one who got the title changed from Wallpaper to Pinnacle. Anyone else remember this? At any rate, he helped me enormously by teaching me some tricks of the trade--journalism, that is. A great mentor and a great friend.

Mary Ellen Yates Miller

I was in the Berea class of '55 which was that of Johnny. He was from Morganton and I was from Lenoir and once during Christmas holiday, he came to Lenoir to a dance at the Amertican Legion Hall. He was some dancer and charmed the ladies with his dancing ability as well as his wry sense of humor. I always thought of Johnny when , years later, Sen. Sam Ervin(also from Morganton) displayed the same gift of humor. A few years ago Johnny visited us in our mountain home in Avery County, NC. Johnny served as a clipping service for me. He would e-mail that a package was coming and a few days later there would be hundreds of clippings(mostly political) from all sources. He would also note "There will be a teston this", another of his jokes. Mary Ellen is correct in that he changed the college paper's name to Pinnacle which was more appropriate than Wallpaper. The latter name came from WWII when paper was scarce and limited copies were distributed to be pinned on walls(so I am told). Johnny, I love you and already miss you. I will attend the memorial service and hope to meet some of his other many friends

Led(ford) Austin, Greensboro, NC

Mary Ellen Yates Miller (we were freshmen together) was right...Johnny changed the name of the college newspaper to Pinnacle. We, my husband Bob Elkins, and I (Shirley Wisecup Elkins) discussed this with John sometime last year when we visited in Boca. We went to school with John at Berea and reconnected in Boca while visiting our friends, Joy and Harry Stigall (EKU grads). We were able to visit with him several times, and during the last visit, actually made him chicken soup while he was recovering from surgery. We so appreciated his talent and connections which he so willingly took care of. He promoted Bob's first book a few years ago which we greatly appreciated. We enjoyed the many writings he sent, and that he kept us abreast of Berea news. I sensed something was wrong when we had not heard from him for sometime. We will miss him on our Boca visits.

Well done, good and faithful friend.

Shirley & Bob

I am Melissa Fox Jones and a distant Silver relative of John's. First of all, please let me express my deepest sympathy to John's sisters, close family, the Silver family, friends, Florida neighbors, classmates and those who knew and loved him as I did.

I first met John in the early 1990's. I was visiting the Silver chapel in Kona, NC where I found a pamphlet on the book he had written. The title of it was Silver: Our Pioneer Ancestors. I immediately ordered a book and was fascinated by the details of the research that had been done on the branches of the family from our Revolutionary War ancestor, George Silver. From that point on, I began a correspondence with John that continued until this day. I used his book as part of my proof for DAR membership and donated a copy to the DAR library. The library takes any book that is donated and puts a hard cover on it and lists it in the catalogue and documents it for the ancestor that it recognizes. I recall telling John about this and how pleased but humble he seemed to be that his book would be listed in history documenting our family heritage.

I always enjoyed receiving correspondence from John. I say correspondence because it was never just a letter. I always received articles he had written which left not just a smile, but a grin on my face followed by a chuckle and usually and outward laughter that made my day much brighter than before.

We took a family vacation in the summer of 2006 to Pompano Beach were I contacted John shortly after we arrived. He was so glad to hear from me and I was happy to see him again. It had been years since our last visit. We met him for lunch and I was able to introduce him to my husband and stepdaughter. We had a delightful visit. He spoke of wanting to move back to Morganton and I had a feeling that he missed North Carolina more than he would admit. We said our goodbye's and I told him when he returned to Morganton that I would be sure to stop by to see him then. I did not know that our visit that day on Burning Tree Lane would be our last. And that our visit in Morganton would be the one to say our final farewell.

John was indeed someone special, and someone I count as a blessing in my life. I will miss him very much, and I thank you for allowing me to share a small part of how much he meant to me and to my family.

John and I worked together at the National Examiner from 1990-1995, and remained close friends and constant e-mail buddies. He was never at a loss for something to share with me, and I was always delighted to hear from him. John was a consummate storyteller, in print and in person. What a collection of stories his life was!

In response to his friend Art Graham, I would like to share this folder of pictures of John who accompanied my husband Steve Wildman and me to the Tabloid Reunions.
Della Attisani