Robert Ray Harrell

Robert Ray Harrell, age 91, passed from this life into the visible presence of God this past Thursday, May 19, 2022. Remarkably, he left this earth to rejoin the love of his life, wife Mavis Jane Harrell, on her birthday!

Services to honor him and his service to our country and to give God glory for his life, are planned for Tuesday, June 7, 10 AM at the Pikes Peak National Cemetery in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Robert Harrell – also known in the family as “Bobby” and “Bob” – lived to see many changes and challenges during the course of his life. He was born in Tarboro, North Carolina, and grew up with two “tough as nails” brothers that stood together through “thick and thin” to defend one another, and sometimes to defend against one another, to the chagrin of their Mom, Blanche, and their Dad, “Mr. Snooks.” As young boys they would join their Dad in the fields, farming cotton, corn, and peanuts, and often did so behind a mule-drawn plow.

Around the age of 11, Bobby jumped out of a tree and severely injured his leg, and as a result, was placed in a body cast for over a year. Through the loving care of his parents, brothers, cousins, aunts and uncles, he learned the lessons of patient endurance, how kindness is to be shown, and the value of family and community. This experience of enduring such suffering at so young an age also made Bob spiritually and emotionally stronger – but most notably, it made him physically stronger from the waist up, learning how to run on crutches, using only his upper body, and able to move about the house by “bouncing” in his chair from room to room.

Bob first entered the US Air Force in 1949, shortly following the end of WW2. His 27 years of military service would take him to Korea, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Alaska, Texas, North Carolina, Florida, Utah, and Montana. He was on the battlefield in both the Korean War and the Vietnam War, and finished his military career as a Chief Master Sergeant in the US Air Force.

During service and after retirement, he and his wife Mavis, lived in Utah for over 40 years, and developed many life-long friendships while there. Rarely was their house empty, but rather served as a “home away from home” for many young airmen and officers.

In 2012, Bob and Mavis moved to Colorado Springs to be near their children and grandchildren, where they would be especially cared for by his daughter, Pam, and her husband, Mike.

Bob always had a story to tell about the “rowdy” adventures experienced with his brothers, about helping his most respected uncle Robert in the fields, about riding a sudden airplane canopy ejection to the ground in a hanger, and about the many friends he lost along the way as they served together in military service.

But the most consuming passion in his life was the love he had for his beautiful wife, Mavis. In the challenging days of her increasing battle with dementia, he remained a loyal and faithful husband, wanting to do everything he could to make her comfortable in their own home – and asked almost every day, “have I done enough to love her?” and “will I see her again?” A terrific book, “Imagine Heaven” gave Dad great comfort.

Yes, Dad, we think you know the answer now.

Bob Harrell was preceded in death by his parents, Blanche and Lumas “Mr. Snooks” Harrell and his brothers, Sonny Harrell and Charles Harrell.

He is survived by his son Rob Harrell and his wife, Kathy; his daughter, Pam Rokes, and her husband Mike; his son Brian, and his wife, Kathy. He is also survived by his grandchildren, Stephen Harrell and wife Laure; Kylie Harrell Hoover and her husband Chris, Janelle Rokes; Alissa Rokes; Jonathan Harrell and his wife Allyson; Colin Harrell, and Brooke Harrell Butler and her husband, Caleb. He is also survived by his great-grandchildren, Jack, Sawyer, and Kate.

In lieu of flowers, we kindly ask you to please make your memorial donations to the “Edgecombe County Veterans’ Military Museum” in Tarboro, North Carolina.