ALBERT LAMAR HARRIS

Albert was born on October 30, 1919 in Chumuckla, Florida to Neil F. and Lilly M. Harris. There were ten children from this union and Albert was the seventh child born. There were three females and seven males. Two females and one male died at an early age.

The family moved to Molino, Florida when Albert was a year old. Albert and his brothers were raised to farm, build with brick and steel. His first job was working for a saw mill near Pine Barren, Florida. He drove the school bus to Tate High for one year.

He married June Inez Wood on September 13, 1938. Eight children were born of this union, three females and five males. The last male lived only six days.

When WWII broke out he joined the Army. He was attached to Company I and sent to Germany. He was a marksman with a rifle and shot deer to help feed the troops in Company I.

In 1941 Albert, Walter, and W.T. moved to Fort Walton Beach, Florida where they bricked up hangers at Eglin Air Force Base. In the late 1940’s W.T., Walter, and Albert started Harris Bros. Company. The First Baptist Church in Flomaton, Alabama was their first construction job. They built homes in the Pensacola area for doctors, churches, barracks at the Navy Yard (NAS), and other places of business. The company bought several buildings on North Davis Highway and started CHM with the partners: Chambers, Harris, and McKinnon. When construction was slack they bid on Gulf Power right-of-ways. This work took them to Eglin, Hurlburt, Dothan, Loxley, Baker, Flomaton, Panama City, and Pensacola.

Albert built skiffs for his brother’s Cecil and J.B. for their fish camps in Pace, Florida. He was an avid fisherman and liked hunting. He built a boathouse which he launched at Dixie Landing in Alabama on the Alabama River but moored the boat at “Lower Dead Run”. This boathouse was destroyed by fire so he built a second boat house which he kept moored at Brown’s Fish Camp on the Yellow River in Milton, Florida. He later moved the boathouse to Nigger Lake in Alabama via the Intracostals Waterway.

He enjoyed working with his hands and built several pieces of furniture for his children and friends.

He died on November 3, 1993 of pneumonia and is buried at Highland Baptist Church in Molino, Florida.

Submitted by:

Brenda (Harris) Mason

In Memory of Albert Lamar Harris