It was around five years ago when I messaged Marine brother Barry Robbins, requesting help in finding a veteran to interview. My former newsroom colleague at the Dalton Daily Citizen who had become Dalton Magazine editor, Rachel Brown Kirkland, asked me to write an article with a Veterans Day theme.
Barry didn’t hesitate: “Larry Harrison.”
My first conversation with Larry was over the phone, and as the interview unfolded it began to take the path of a Christmas story. In late 2019, Larry shared with readers in the pages of the magazine how he missed the birth of his daughter, Bitsy, who was born to his wife Sarah while he was serving in Vietnam.
“The biggest thing I remember about that time is they sent me a Polaroid (color photo) of the baby,” he proudly recalled. “It was so out of focus it could have been a squirrel dressed up in a Christmas suit, but I showed everybody anyway!”
A while later, Larry invited me to come speak at a Dalton Kiwanis Club meeting. A “disclaimer” here: I’ve got a lot of friends in civic clubs in Dalton, Chatsworth and Ellijay, but some of the Dalton Kiwanians I’ve known a real long time — including Tommy Kenemer and Terry Phelps from church, Eddie Brooker and his family from North Whitfield County, Margaret Zeisig with United Way, David Renz with the Boys & Girls Clubs and Bob Beavers with Georgia Sheriffs’ Youth Homes in Dalton and Chatsworth. So I gave my Christian testimony that day and talked about wild but true stories.
Later, Larry called again. Would I come and speak about the Vietnam veterans who had died in the war whose stories were being published? Of course, and this was even before that book hit the press. After the PowerPoint presentation, a couple of Vietnam vets in the room spoke up, and even became somewhat emotional while sharing their own vignettes. If memory serves, Larry was one of them.
Earlier this year, the Kiwanis Club had me back once more to talk about the late H.P. “Ham” Hamlin of Cherokee Boys Estate. Bob Beavers made that invitation, and afterward put together a much more in-depth article about how club members supported Hamlin and the estate decades ago. I noticed Larry was not in attendance, but failed to ask about him.
Then earlier this month, I saw his obituary in the Dalton paper and was saddened. However, as I read through it my eyes widened in amazement at what my friend of the last few years had accomplished. He survived seven bank mergers and was always asked to stay on as an executive, and that leadership aptitude also surfaced as a youth athletics coach, board member of the local career academy and teacher of financial literacy to teenagers. He also was a formative leader with Habitat for Humanity, served with Big Brothers Big Sisters and spoke many times to American Legion veterans. Larry taught Junior Achievement courses and was active in church life, often guiding with his knowledge of finances.
And the thing is, it’s altogether possible many of us never knew of his vast service in these myriad areas until he passed. When I opened the newspaper last Saturday morning, there was “servant leader” in the headline of the lead article about Larry Harrison. Stalwart reporter Charles Oliver certainly beat me to the punch with that one, and I’m glad he did. It depicted the character of this humble, self-effacing man who has gone on to a greater reward.
Larry’s accomplishments made me think of the book I’ve been plodding through, “Leading with a Limp” by Dan Allender. And that’s not a pejorative verb, by the way, but simply a nod to the depth of thought its reading requires.
“It is the hope of every good teacher to have students who take their work further than the teacher was able to do,” the author writes in the first chapter. “To be surpassed is the ideal. To be replaced is the goal, not a sign of failure.”
It describes Larry to a “T” – and as I write this it makes me wonder how that phrase came about. Is it that we like the capital T because it’s a vertical symbol supporting a platform? If so, Larry was the underlying pillar, holding up the stage where the rest of us can continue to work, perform and shine. A Vietnam Cross of Gallantry medal was just a precursor of the life he would come to live and share in Northwest Georgia.
Though he will be greatly missed, Larry Harrison leaves a path for us to follow. It is well marked, having been blazed with humble service, friendship and faithfulness.
Mark Millican is a former staff writer for the Dalton Daily Citizen.