Death Penalty Proponent Vernon Harvey Dead At 69
Times Picayune 04-30-1996

*************************************************
Copyright. All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm
************************************************  

Vernon Dale Harvey, who became a proponent of the death penalty after the 1980
murder of his stepdaughter, Faith Hathaway, died Sunday of complications from
a heart attack. He was 69.

Mr. Harvey suffered a heart attack Thursday at his home near Mandeville and
died at Lakeview Regional Medical Center near Mandeville.

In the years since Hathaway was killed by Robert Lee Willie and Joseph
Vaccaro, Harvey and his wife, Elizabeth, traveled the world, championing the
rights of crime victims and speaking in support of the execution of those
convicted of murder. Willie was executed at Angola in 1986 with the Harveys in
attendance.

Also in attendance was Sister Helen Prejean of New Orleans who has become a
well-known opponent of capital punishment. Her 1984 book, "Dead Man Walking,"
in part chronicled her counseling of Willie on death row. The book was made
into an Oscar-winning movie, part of which was filmed in St. Tammany Parish.

The Harveys got involved in the victim's rights movement in 1982, after
Willie's trial and conviction. They and other supporters, mostly family
members of murder victims, gathered regularly at the front gates of Angola on
dates of executions, maintaining a vigil for execution throughout the night.

Usually, on the other side of the highway, stood Sister Prejean, leading a
silent, candle-lit opposition to capital punishment.

In succeeding years, as the debate over capital punishment intensified, the
Harveys and Sister Prejean argued their differing positions on talk shows such
as "Geraldo," at debates on college campuses, on documentary films and on
public television.

Neither side changed position but more recently, in promoting her book and
movie, Sister Prejean often was quick to credit Vernon and Elizabeth Harvey
with making her more sensitive to the anguish of families of murder victims.

In October 1994 she stood beside the Harveys in Mandeville Cemetery to help
them bury Baby Hope, an unclaimed newborn infant who washed up on the shore of
Lake Pontchartrain near Slidell. The baby's body was claimed from the morgue
by the Harveys and buried beside Faith Hathaway.

Mr. Harvey was born in Merrett, Ill. He was a Navy veteran of World War II. He
was commander of Disabled American Veterans Post 16 in Hammond in 1990-91 and
commander of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 7286 in Covington in 1991-92.

He was a retired carpenter.

Survivors include his wife; four daughters, Sharon K. Talbot, Helen Laverene
Harvey, Debbie Jo Smith and Lizabeth Dale Wright; two stepsons, David and
Steve Summers; two stepdaughters, Judy Givens and Opal Marie Veazie; two
sisters, Kaye Travis and Norman N. Denison; a brother, Ramon Harvey; and
numerous grandchildren, step-grandchildren and step-great-grandchildren.

Visitation will be Wednesday from 2 to 4 p.m. at E.J. Fielding Funeral Home,
2260 W. 21st. Ave., Covington, with a VFW memorial service at 4 p.m. at the
funeral home.