Robert Lee Harris Sr.

He was born March 7, 1945 to Roy and Edith Harris in Phoenix. He may have lost his battle to cancer, but he is still our hero. He fought each day like a soldier until the end with so much courage and strength. He will always be the strongest and bravest man we know. No matter how much pain he went through he still kept his smile and sense of humor. Sometimes pretending he felt good, so we wouldn't worry.

Always telling jokes, I'm pretty sure every nurse and doctor that ever cared for him could never forget him, he would make nurses laugh with his crazy little sayings "let’s make like sheep and get the flock out of here." The sweetest man ever; he made sure he took extra snacks whenever he had his chemo treatments to share with his nurses or other cancer patients around him. He married his beautiful wife of 48 years; our mother, Sally Harris December 4th 1964. Throughout those 48 years they raised 10 of us; 6 girls and 4 boys.

We are all very proud to call him Dad. We know we sometimes let him down, by making decisions we shouldn't have but he never stopped loving us. He always made sure we were ok and taken care of. No matter what we did he forgave us. Our dad was a hard working man, a roofer; our handy man when we broke something that we shouldn't have been messing with. Sometimes our cook when he would want to give mom a break from the kitchen. Chop Suey was one of his specialties and wow it was delicious.

Our dads sense of humor is one thing we will always remember. We are sure many of our good friends and family where victims to one of his many practical jokes. Maybe you would walk in a store with him and everyone would think you had passed gas, after he would spray some of his fart spray behind you, or his famous itching powder poured down the back of your shirt. These are just a few of many practical jokes he loved to do. Our dad knew his humor would make everything better no matter what. Dad had many hobbies and things he loved to do. He enjoyed many things, from working in his garden, fixing his lawnmowers, car races to chicken fights. Cock fighting was introduced to him from his father-in-law; our grandfather who was from the Philippines. Our dad loved the traditions he learned from our grandfather and all the other Filipinos our grandfather knew. He loved cock fighting so much it became a big part of our lives. Our mother would cook at the derbies, while our dad and brothers would fight there chickens. Our dad loved cock fighting so much that he introduced it to many of his family members who also loved and fell in love with the tradition. Our brothers also would take part in the tradition as well as his daughters. We were taught to train the chickens and also learned about the tradition.

We know today many look at cock fighting as a cruel sport, but we will remember this as a Filipino tradition that our father loved. We may have lived in city limits but our house seemed like a farm, with our backyard filled with roosters crowing every morning. I'm sure our whole neighborhood was woken up by it not sure if they liked it or not but that was part of our life and we loved it. Dad loved us all dearly; our beautiful mother, all 10 of his kids; all of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. We weren't the typical kids that brought dogs or cats home to keep; we brought friends home to stay. Dad wasn't the clean cut suit and tie type of guy, he liked his t-shirt, jeans and ball cap, he liked his beard and hair long. His first impression may have scared some people when first meeting him but once they got to know and see the type of person he was they fell in love with him. Many of our friends we brought home for a one night sleep over ended up living with us. Mom and Dad took them in as one of their own it was always a full house, loud and crazy. There are many people that looked up to you dad, you were like a father figure to them, some even called you dad, that's how much of a good person you were. We all miss you dearly, you were our rock. You will never leave our hearts. We will cherish the many memories we have of you. We know you are still right here with us, probably laughing at us right now because of little arguing we do amongst each other or the jokes were cracking at each other trying our best to keep a smile on our faces during this very hard time because we know you hated to see us cry. We are all going to do our best to keep making you proud of us all. If we ever do anything to upset you now feel free to find a way to tell us to "quit being stupid" we all knew that was one of the things you had to say and we would straighten our act up quick. We love you so much Dad! We'll see you later alligator.

He is survived by his wife, Sally Harris; children: Robin Harris, Robert (Cathy) Harris Jr, Roy Harris (Lynda) Roxanne Hernandez (Joe Hernandez) Renee Harris, Roseanne Harris, Releen Upshaw (Sueanna Upshaw) Jacob Harris, Justin Harris, Tamara Harris.

Grand children: Michael Gonzales (Brandy) Cristina Gonzales (cristobal) Roman Gonzales, Anthony Carrillo, Rebecca Harris, Robert Harris 3rd, Matthew Harris, Amanda Harris, Joshua Harris, Johnathan Harris, Iyana Laborin, Kristopher Hernandez, Braxten Hernandez, Mercedez Hernandez.

Great grandchildren: Audri Nevarez, Julia Gonzales, Zoey Gonzales, Emmauel jaurigue.

Siblings: Margaret Theoldore, Joe Harris, Odis (corky) Harris, Pam Kelly and many other close friends, and people who looked up to him as a father, grandfather and brother. He was predeceased by his parents, Roy and Edith Harris; daughter, Stephanie Ann Harris, brother, Roy Harris Jr. sister, Marilyn Bender, and many more family members and friends.