Charles Kenneth Harbison

1946-2015

Charles K. (“Charlie”) Harbison, 68, died in Sugar Land on July 24, 2015. Born in Eunice, Louisiana, he came to Houston at an early age and lived here for over 45 years before moving to Sugar Land where he spent the last 17 years. Charlie, a retired Shell Oil employee, was a long-time member of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo and served on many of its committees over the course of 35 plus years. Among his most notable service was overall responsibility for the accommodation of incoming trailriders in Memorial Park on the evening preceding the big parade. An accomplished and popular cook, he was a perennial winner of the People’s Choice Award in the annual Houston Post chili cookoffs of the 80’s, and cooked for the MS 150 cyclists on their LaGrange stopover as well as for many rodeo related functions. Charlie was widely known and loved and he was blessed with a multitude of lengthy and well deserved friendships emanating from all walks of his life.

Charlie was preceded in death by his father, James M. Harbison. He is survived by his mother, Dorothy Harbison, formerly of Sugar Land and now of Houston; daughter, RaNee Harbison Steed and her husband Jason of Austin, TX; daughter, Kimberly Harbison Franklin and husband Jerry of Magnolia, TX;, brother, James M. Harbison, Jr. and his wife Yonok; brother, Russell Harbison and his wife Gigi; grandchildren, Kelsey, Tyler and Katherine Steed, and Grant and Morgan Franklin; and two generations of nieces and nephews.

A visitation will be held for family and friends on Tuesday, July 28, from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM, in the Morrow Room, at the Settegast-Kopf Co. @ Sugar Creek, 15015 Southwest Freeway, Sugar Land (Williams Trace Exit). A Funeral Service will be held on Wednesday, July 29 at 11:00 AM, in the Morrow Chapel of the Settegast-Kopf Co. @ Sugar Creek. Interment will follow at 3:00 PM, at Palacios Cemetery, in Palacios, TX. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Charlie’s memory to friends’ chosen charities, the National Kidney Foundation, or the Education Fund of the HLSR