Lelia Mae Harris

Lelia was born on the 29th of October 1924 in Port Arthur, Texas, to Mason and Florence Harding. Although her parents lived in Galena Park, her mother wanted to deliver their first child in the home of her brother, Earl Blackburn and his wife, Georgia.

Lelia lived most of her life in and around Houston, Texas. She attended the Lillie Jolly School of Nursing in Houston, and upon graduation, she and ten classmates joined the Army Nurse Corp and began training to join the war effort. Her nursing career included service as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Army Nurse Corp during WWII, and surgical and medical nursing at Hermann Hospital and The Methodist Hospital, both in the Texas Medical Center in Houston.

She was a founding member of the Westside Christian Church in Bellaire, Texas.

After retiring from nursing, she and her husband moved away from the Houston area and spent fifteen years in Big Sandy, Texas. There she was an active member of the Holly Lake Church of Christ. She enjoyed those years near her sister who lived in Tyler, Texas.

She enjoyed photography, sewing, creating digital photo cards, cooking, entertaining friends and spending time with her family. She was a dedicated wife and mother and was at peace knowing Jesus as her Savior.

She had a quiet sense of humor. When she was an upperclassman in nursing school, she and another student positioned themselves at the school entrance on opening day dressed in frumpy clothing while sitting on their empty suitcases. Using an overstated provincial accent, they announced that they were from North Zulch and spun yarns for the new arrivals. It was years before her children discovered that there is actually a Texas town named North Zulch.

Lelia is survived by her sister Florence Featherston; her children, Dianne Millican of Channelview, Texas, with her children Glenn and Scott Coleman, Charlie Andrew “Andy” Millican and Cindy Millican Mathes and their children; Victor Harris and wife Beverly of Murphysboro, Illinois, and their son Bryson; Tanya Harris of Richmond, Texas; Donald Reynolds and wife Sheila of Richmond, Texas, and their son, Aaron Jacobson; Nancy Howard and husband Richard of Sugar Land, Texas, and their sons, Ryan and Andrew; and Chelsea Cook and her husband Philip of Carrollton, Texas, and their children Andrea and Curtis. Additionally, she counts 15 great-grandchildren and 15 great-great grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents, her husbands, Darce Elehue Wallace, Francois Hue Kari “Frank” Reynolds Jr., and Victor Wirt Harris, her grandson, David Howard, and generations of other beloved family members.

Friends are cordially invited to a visitation with the family from four until five o’clock in the afternoon on Friday, the 15th of July, in the Pavilion of Geo. H. Lewis & Sons, 1010 Bering Drive in Houston.

The funeral service is to follow at five o'clock in the afternoon, also on Friday, in the Jasek Chapel of Geo. H Lewis & Sons, where Rev. Harold Eye is to officiate.

In lieu of customary remembrances, memorial contributions in Lelia's honor may be directed to the Alzheimer's Association, via their electronic website of www.alz.org.