Robert Henry Harrison

Born in Sheffield, Alabama on July 29, 1944, Robert Henry Harrison was the son of Henry Sullivan Harrison and Mary Edna Pounds Harrison who, along with his siblings: Mary Joy Harrison Mears and Virginia Lee Harrison Maltby, preceded him in death. In 1950, the family moved to Michigan to find work, living a short time in Detroit but later settled in Dearborn Township where they lived most of their lived. They worshipped with the congregation of the Outer Drive Church of Christ. At nine years of age, Bob earned money by running a large newspaper route near his home from the seat of his Cushman Eagle. As a teenager, he was admired for work done with his own hands on his 1932 Ford, as he was always making it run faster and look cool. In later life, he would blossom into an era of drag racing which earned him national recognition honoring his achievements in racing his AMX race cars across the country. One of them was the sister car to that owned by the renowned drag racer, Herman Lewis of Beckley, West Virginia. Bob and Faye met at Freed Hardeman College in 1962, wed in 1963, and settled in Michigan. Their daughter, Jayna Faye Harrison Melugin was born there. Bob was a police officer in the Detroit suburb of Garden City but later moved their family south. Their son, Jason Robert Harrison, was born in Mississippi where Bob and Faye owned and operated a gas station and repair shop during a time of deep depression in that area. In 1970, they family moved to Jackson, Tennessee where Bob became an insurance agent for Blair, Folin, Allen, and Walker. This developed into his becoming partners with the Carl Smith Agency in a life insurance business called Smith-Harrison. A few years later, one of his customers invited him to join River Heights Lumber Company as its risk manager. In 1978 the family returned to Jackson where Bob worked for Jim Simmons Insurance Agency until another customer asked him to become the risk manager for his trucking business in Columbus, Ohio. In the meantime, Jim Simmons had begun combining his insurance business with banking services and invited Bob to return to Jackson to run that new venture. He remained in that position until his early retirement due to complications of Lyme’s disease which affected his memory. Alzheimer’s disease began to worsen his memory problems and gradually led to confusion which resulted in the recent incident that took his life. Some years ago, Bob confined to a dear friend that he had realized he was lost but that he had confessed his faith in Jesus Christ and was now saved. It is a comfort to be reminded of this. Many will remember Bob’s sense of humor. While working with Jim Simmons, he had heard Jim say to someone, “Good to see you out early.” Bob would go on to repeat this occasionally to people he met after Jim’s passing. Bob always loved Jim and he loved seeing people laugh when they heard Jim’s phrase. Bob delighted in making people laugh. If you knew Bob well, you knew that he was very sincere in his interactions with others and always tried his best to do what was right in every situation. He was a perfectionist, holding himself to a higher standard that he expected of others. Bob was loved by so many people. We can never thank you enough for sharing our grief today and for loving Bob as you have. Please continue to pray for us as we grieve our great loss. We greatly appreciate our pallbearers: Jason Harrison, Rick Melugin, Adam Phelps, Jeremy Spain, Steve Melugin, Tim Melugin, Javin Gooch, Frank Neely, and Tommy Ferguson. We love you all. Faye and the family

Robert Henry Harrison

July 29, 1944 - December 16, 2024