Thomas Harris Obituary

Harris, Thomas New 78, died Monday, March 30, 2009, in Fort Worth, Texas, following a two-year battle with lymphoma. A Celebration of Life service will be held 11 a.m., Wednesday, April 22, at First United Methodist Church, Fort Worth. Tom was born April 22, 1930 in Chicago. A graduate of Washington and Lee University, he married Lynn Coonley Gould on June 30, 1961. He spent the majority of his career in Fort Worth as a buyer of consumer electronics for Radio Shack, Tandy Corporation; he retired in 1994. In addition to his family, his greatest joy in life was boogie-woogie music. Because of his love for that musical form, Tom and Lynn hosted an annual weekend gathering for 34 years, attended by a global network of musicians, friends and fans. Tom's passion for boogie-woogie piano - a musical style that history remembers as a relatively short-lived fad that began just before the Great Depression - gave shape and joy to his world. As a teenager, Tom haunted record shops by day; by night, he peered inside clubs to watch piano-playing heroes like Pete Johnson, Meade Lux Lewis and Albert Ammons. Thus, and with the help of Buddy (Gries) Charles, he taught himself how to play the music he loved. However, as he said more than once, "Musicians lead strange lives." And he didn't want a strange life; he wanted to provide for a family which he did with a passion for Lynn, his wife of 47 years; his daughters, Dana Harris Stewart and Jody Leigh Berard; son-in-laws, Doug and Jerome; and his grandchildren, Audrey and Adrien. He was preceded in death by his mother, Helen New Harris, and his father, Francis L. Harris. He is survived by his brother, Kenneth A. Harris and wife Marie Harris; and their children Ellen Harris and Kenneth A Harris, Jr. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to Community Hospice of Texas; E. R. Van Zandt Southwest YMCA; or First Methodist Church Foundation, Children's Ministries, all of Fort Worth.