TERREBONNE and LAFOURCHE Parishes, La. OBITUARIY for HARRIS, ALVA Submitted by: Louis Lavedan Published in Houma Today & The Daily Comet from March 19 to March 20, 2013 ============================================================================= Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgenweb.org/volunteers/copyright.shtml ============================================================================= HARRIS, ALVA Alva Howard Harris, 84, of New Bern, N.C., died at his home Tuesday, March 19, 2013, after a courageous battle with Parkinson's Disease. He was born on Dec. 22, 1928. His life will be remembered privately in a special gathering of his family for a time of sharing. He is survived by his wife, soulmate and love of his life for five years, Donna Ange Harris; three sons, Ben Howard Harris and wife, Anne, of Winston-Salem, N.C., Kenneth Alva Harris of Fourchon, and Michael Robert Harris of Thibodaux; three sisters, Sylvia H. Davis of the Ponzer Community in Hyde County, N.C., Sue H. Castellow of Washington, N.C., and Judy H. Riddle of Fayetteville, N.C.; and two grandchildren, Michael and Benjamin Harris. Born in Carteret County, N.C., he was the son of the late Ben and Hazel Whitley Harris. Early in his life, his family moved to Leechville, N.C., and then into Hyde County, N.C., and in later years he moved to the New Bern area. Alva was a 1947 graduate of the former John A. Wilkinson High School in Belhaven, N.C. He left for Alaska on Easter Sunday of 1949 and returned at Thanksgiving and then went to Alaska again in 1950 and was there from Easter to Thanksgiving. While in Alaska, he worked on a salmon trawler and in the gold mines. He entered the Coast Guard in December of 1950 where he served until 1953. Thus, his time in Alaska and with the Coast Guard was in the middle of his undergraduate years as he had run out of money. He then entered North Carolina State University where he studied in wildlife management and earned his master's of science degree in 1958. He served as a visiting professor at North Carolina State University, and he later received his Ph.D. in parasitology in June of 1965. Then he moved on to Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, as professor of natural science until his retirement in 1988. He also served for some years as chief ecologist and collector for Carolina Biological Supply Company. In 1990, he founded his own trucking company which is now owned by his son, Michael. Even after his retirement, he enjoyed commercial fishing from his home place in Hyde County, N.C. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations in his name may be made to the Michael J. Fox Foundation, Grand Central Station, P.O. Box 4777, New York, N.Y., 10163- 4777 or by going to www.michaeljfox.org to donate online for Parkinson's Research. Bryan Funeral Service in Swan Quarter, N.C. is in charge of arrangements. ======================