Jerry Harris

Jerry Dine Harris was born on May 26, 1937 in Newbern, Alabama to the late Tommie and Leatha Harris. She was the fourth of seven children. She was preceded in death by a daughter, Deborah A. Harris, a son, Timothy Harris, a grandson, Larry Anton Anderson and two brothers, Robert Harris (Mable) and Thornton Harris (Flo). She departed this life on Thursday, January 2, 2014.
Jerry, known to most as Ms. Harris, attended Hale County Public School in Newbern prior to moving to Cincinnati with her parents where she attended Woodward High School. She accepted Christ as her Lord and Savior at an early age and joined New Temple Baptist Church under the leadership of Pastor Howard McBride. She had a beautiful voice and sung and traveled with various gospel groups, including Shirley Caesar.
During her career at Lincoln Crawford Nursing Home, Jerry became an activist. She served as a Steward for SEIU 1199. In addition to meeting with management to mediate union employees concerns, she represented them at several state and national conferences. She was once arrested in Washington, DC while marching for workers rights.
Ms. Harris lived for her grandchildren and regularly attended their various sports events from baseball to football where she became “Mama Coach”. She loved all sports and was a Bengals and Reds fan. Jerry also loved to travel and watch her beloved soaps.
As a valuable and essential part of the family, Jerry served as the family historian — collecting and sharing photos and stories of our families ancestors. She never missed a family reunion or memorial dinner.
She leaves to mourn: six loving children, Marshall Harris, Eddie Harris (Frances), Louanne Anderson, Anthony Har-ris, Michael Harris, Brenda Harris, Diane and Eugene Campbell; three sisters and one brother, all of Cincinnati, Ohio, Mable Hudson (Nelson), Ora Young (William), Helen Goodwin (Lee) and James Harris (Gwen); 15 grand-children, 22 great-grandchildren and a host of cousins, nieces, nephews, extended family and friends.