Service celebrates Harris' memory
'I love you,' he told his brother just 10 minutes before he was killed.
By D.A. WILKINSON
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
POLAND -- The life of Micah R. Harris has been celebrated by his family and friends, who remembered him more for giving than receiving and for teaching others how to love.
"I know his memory will last forever," said Paul Hulea, head football coach at Poland Seminary High School.
Hulea was among those who spoke Saturday morning at a community service at the school for the football standout and psychology major.
Harris, 21, died June 11 after an automobile accident near Richmond, Va.
"This tragedy is something we have no explanation for," Hulea told a crowd of several hundred.
But he and others agreed that Harris is safe in heaven and at peace.
Harris was a member of Poland Presbyterian Church. In his message, the Rev. Robert P. Hoover of the church recalled the Biblical figure of Job, who enjoyed life again after deep suffering.
The Rev. Mr. Hoover asked, "Can we be satisfied again? Yes. Yes. Yes."
In his junior year at Poland, Harris and the Bulldogs were Division III champions. He had just completed his junior year at Duke University in Durham, N.C., which he attended on a football scholarship.
Duke teammate Brian Greene said, "He taught us all so much, but the most important thing he taught us was to love."
Harris was a son, a brother, and teammate, said Greene, who added, "Now he's our angel."
Scott Brown, an assistant football coach at Duke, recalled Harris as always smiling and full of energy.
He "was a much better giver than a taker," Brown said.
Harris' brother, Army Lt. Adam Harris, said he had talked to his brother just 10 minutes before he was killed. As the cell phone faded due to interference, "he said that he loved me," Lt. Harris said, adding, "I truly feel the world was cheated."
A smiling face
Others described Harris as a gentle giant who gave people bear hugs and always had a smile, rough-housed with his athletic friends and was good with kids.
Brian Krichbaum, a high school classmate, told the Harris family, "Everything I loved in Micah, I see in you."
High school classmate and football teammate Pete Perry described Harris as his best friend and brother. Perry said he had recently talked to Harris.
"He seemed so happy. He had so much in front of him," Perry said.
Mark Covell, assistant principal at Poland high school, described Harris as "an impact player and an impact person. He always made an impression."
Covell added that for people of faith, "Endings are beginnings. We just don't know it at the time."
wilkinson@vindy.com.