Valley family mourns loss from Ky. crash

Erik Harris was one of 49 people killed in the accident Sunday morning.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
Netta Common of Alliance has lost the grandson who gave her the nickname "Deedee."
Erik Harris, 28, son of Richard and Karen Harris of Alliance, was one of 49 people killed when a Comair jet crashed on takeoff from Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Ky., on Sunday morning.
Common, who has lived next door to Richard and Karen, her daughter, for years, said she knew something was amiss when she woke up Sunday morning to get ready for church.
"I just felt real weird," she recalled, adding that she didn't even feel like getting dressed.
She turned on the television and heard about the crash, immediately worrying about Harris, although she didn't know he was to be flying that day.
The whole family, she included, were to go to Lexington on Friday to see Harris and the new house he had just built and meet his fianc & eacute;e.
Harris' two younger sisters went to Common's house a short time later to tell her Harris had been on the Comair flight.
His 29th birthday would have been Sept. 15, Common said, adding that she had planned to take him shopping for a present while she was in Kentucky.
Getting her nickname
It was Harris, her oldest grandchild, who gave her the nickname "Deedee," she said.
When he was just a tiny boy, she would always greet him by asking," How are you doing, Sweetie?"
He tried to reciprocate with the same words, but "Sweetie" came out as "Deedee" and the nickname stuck, she said, noting that all of her grandchildren grew up using it.
Harris, employed by Galls Inc., a public safety equipment and apparel company in Lexington, was flying to New Orleans to meet with a client the day of the crash and was to return Thursday in time for the family visit, Common said.
He flew often, since much of the Southwest was part of his sales territory, she said.
"He was the greatest guy in the world," Common said, adding that Harris called his parents every day. He was excited about the family coming to visit him in Lexington, she said.
Harris graduated in 1996 from West Branch High School, where faculty remember him as, "a very good, very serious student," said Dr. Scott Weingart, district superintendent.
He was a polite and respectful young man and a high achiever, Weingart said, adding that Harris played varsity football and was a member of the 1994 West Branch state championship team.
"Even though he graduated 10 years ago, he's remembered fondly by our faculty and staff," Weingart said. "He was one of those kids you always loved to have."
His great-aunt, Karen Common, is an art teacher and still teaches at West Branch. His mother teaches at Rockhill Elementary in Alliance and at the Kent State University Salem Campus.
The family has had more than its share of tragedy over the past year.
Karen Common's husband, Richard, their son, James, and her brother-in-law Michael Common died in a carbon monoxide poisoning accident while on a fishing trip to Canada last September.
Netta's husband, Frank, brother to Richard and Michael, died of cancer just a few days later.
The family had four funerals in four days and has yet to fully recover, Netta Common said.
"We were trying to get over all this, and now this ...," she said.
Harris attended college at Morehead State University in Morehead, Ky., and earned a bachelor's degree in psychology with a minor in criminology in 2003, according to university records.
He was active in Sigma Pi Fraternity at Morehead and was in charge of the construction of a new fraternity house while there, Netta Common said.
He chose to stay in Kentucky where he met his fianc & eacute;e, Toni, who also worked for Galls Inc., she said.
Common dotes on her grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
"Right now, my life is my grandkids," Common said. I had 12. Now, I only have 11. They're just my life."
gwin@vindy.com