With infinite sadness, we announce the deaths of our parents, Rose Marie and James Eugene Harris. Death claimed our father in December 2020, when we were not allowed to grieve. Our mother joined him three years later, in October 2023.

James was a native of Houston and served in the U.S. Army during the Korean conflict. He spent his career in the department of Information Systems at the University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston. When he retired, he became a prolific writer who spent his life constructing complex truths in the form of novels and academic papers; he was also known to help neighbors fix things around their homes.

Rose was born in Galveston and attended the island’s Catholic Ursuline Academy, graduating as valedictorian. She ultimately retired as an instructor of English at Galveston College. She was a voracious reader, a proud feminist, and lover of opera. She was rarely without a rosary in hand and was praying for us all.

Devoted Catholics, they met as undergraduates at The University of St. Thomas in Houston and were married in 1956, then settled in Galveston to raise their family of six children. They were married for 64 years and are survived by five of those children: Therese Harris, Rose Johnson, Celine Harris, James Harris (and Wife Yolanda O.),  and Maria Harris; their beloved daughter, Mary Ann Beggs, passed in 2009. Rose is survived by her youngest sister, Inez Flores. They are also survived by six grandchildren: Gregory Beggs, Alex Beggs, Monica Beggs, Seth Harris, John Johnson, Virginia Anderson, and Taylor Thrailkill; also by three great-grandchildren (Rhea Thrailkill, Nairi Beggs, and Taleen Beggs).

Nature has not improved upon parents since ours were gifted to us; there are no words to describe our sadness now that they both are gone. Our grief is cloaked in gratitude for the life we had with them, and for the eternal life they will have together in faith. For now, we pray that the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, is upon them — and will comfort us also.