Thursday 28th March 2024

peace-lily-1000x563

Joseph W. “Joe” Harris Jr., age 88, of rural Slater, died Saturday, February 5, 2022, at Big Bend Retreat in Slater.

Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, February 12, at Slater United Methodist Church, with Robert Beard officiating. Burial will follow at Sunset Gardens Cemetery in Marshall, with Benjamin Thornton, Keith Thornton, Aaron Thornton, Shawn Harris, Matt Harris, Adam Harris, Koy Harris, and Kale Harris serving as pallbearers.  Visitation will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, February 11, at Weiker Funeral Home in Slater.  Memorials are suggested to St. Jude Children’s Hospital or Shriner’s Children’s Hospital in care of the funeral home.

Born August 16, 1933 in Slater, he was the son of the late Joseph W. and Ora Leigh Yowell Harris.  On June 30, 1956 in Gilliam, he married Mildred “Millie” Colson, and she survives of the home.

Also surviving is a daughter, Carolyn Thornton and her husband Dan of rural Miami; three sons, Stephen Harris and his wife Joyce of Sweet Springs, Jeffrey Harris and his wife Sandra of Slater, and Darren Harris and his wife Jane of New Franklin; fourteen grandchildren; thirty great-grandchildren; and three step-great-grandchildren.  He was preceded in death by three sisters, Eleanor Bell, Mildred Ann Franklin, and Hart Vaughn.

Mr. Harris was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  As a youth, he was raised in the Decatur, Illinois and Sharon, Missouri areas.  He was a 1951 graduate of Slater High School. He worked for a number of years as an on-air personality, known as Ol’ Joe Harris, doing announcing and commercials on KMMO Radio in Marshall.  In addition, he had worked for Slater Bancshares, Ashford Insurance, and Leimkuehler Insurance, and was a life-long farmer.  He loved his family, and enjoyed going to the lake, water-skiing, and hunting.  He and his wife had recently celebrated their sixty-fifth wedding anniversary.