Vea Harris - a Little Lady with Grit

Vea Harris and me

Tomorrow we celebrate Vea Harris's life and I just want to reflect on that life.  Here was a lady who had a passion for kids (always working with the youth at church), flowers (always working in the garden), antiques (did you ever see the shed), the Bible and Jesus and just visiting with her friends.

Obviously she has five kids Norma, David, Bob, Janis and Eddy.  My stories about Eddy and I and our adventures are endless but what you may or may not know is how great Vea was and how she encouraged us.  Vea gave us her time, her laughter, many meals, a place to rest and friendship and for that I am grateful.

What I remember most is that she never yelled too much at us and she never spanked us, both of which I cannot say about David!  Yes, he yelled at Eddy and I and we were absolutely innocent and he even spanked us once with a two by four and it had bent nails in it.  There might be a little stretch of truth here.

 I use to always think David was mean but he turned out to be a good friend and I would say Jan made him a better person. Norma grew up and was gone before Eddy and I ever got in trouble so I cannot speak to if she would have gotten after us.  Bob laughed at us a lot and was probably in trouble himself.  But Janis, now she was just an ornery as we were and some day we will have to tell stories on her.

Now I did say Eddy and I were innocent but one thing I should probably admit to since Vea has gone on to be with Jesus and maybe she could put in a good word for Eddy and me.  Anyway, one day Eddy and I were doing some investigative work at their place and we caught this one cat that Eddy did not like.  Now before I go on I have to tell you this is graphic and offensive and at least I felt really bad about it so if you love cats, are a member of PETA or in law enforcement you need not read on.  And in fact most folks should just stop right here.

Well Eddy thought we should get rid of this cat and we thought it would be best if there were no evidence.  We did consider dynamite but thought that might attract attention even if we were a mile from anyone.  We also considered guns but who was going to hold on to that cat.  The cat did not like Eddy and I sure did not want to hold on to it while Eddy unloaded a few rounds on it.  But being about eight years old we thought it best if we tied it to a rope and then the rope was attached to a rock.  Anyway I have asked for forgiveness for this and NEVER told Vea but I guess she is sitting up there with Jesus right now and visiting with Him so maybe she is not watching.  Well, anyway, we teamed up and threw the rock into the pond across the road from the house.  By the way if you try this don't be the person holding the cat as cats will hold on to you with their claws and it hurts badly.  So Vea if you are listening please forgive me and did I mention that we discovered later it was the wrong cat.

The strange thing is I loved cats and had 23 of the critters.  The only two people I know who ever came close to that was Vea Harris and Jack and Deanie Heath (Jimmy's Dad and Mom) and I would say the Heath family had more cats than that.  OK, I confessed my sin, so get over it.

Back to Vea.  She was my Sunday School teacher at the Methodist Church and she allowed Eddy and I to be boys.  She encouraged us and loved us through tough times and bad but mainly she laughed at our creative minds which just encouraged us more.  She doctored our wounds like the time I wrapped the bull whip around my neck.  She taught us many lesson in life like when she explained to us that planting our trucks in the garden did not grow more trucks.  You may recall we took all of her candy and planted it as well.  But she never spanked us and she might have raised her voice a little but it was not bad.  She allowed us to play with guns and real dynamite although I suspect she really never knew about the dynamite.  When we told her about turning over the out-house at Dales Feed Seed and Fertilizer Store she laughed and when we told her about taking all of Don Casselman's fire wood and putting it in the road she laughed.  And one year we took high line poles and put them in the road around the Grainola School so no one could get to school or at least it would start late, she laughed.   Then one year we took chain saws and cut down a few small trees and dragged them into the streets to stop the flow of the ONLY schoolbus at Grainola, she laughed.  What the heck I might as well keep going.  Eddy and I went duck hunting with a 30-30 and wasted a box of shells getting one duck, she laughed.  We went coon hunting with a chain saw, she laughed.

Vea of course laughed.  She was a wonderful encouragement to us and she cooked for us and loved us no matter what we did.

So I should stop but THANK YOU VEA for a wonderful life and a great example.

What do you learn from the Osage?

• It's a dynamite of a place to live
• The heart is bigger than the person especially when it came to Vea
• Vea gave more than she got because she never measured life by STUFF .. do I need to explain?

Thanks for your time,Vea.

gary@thepioneerman.com