Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, September 15, 1995 TAG: 9509150073
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-5 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: SHACKLEFORDS LENGTH: Medium
Vincent Lee Harris Sr. ``died knowing the Lord,'' the Rev. Arthur K. Roane said at Harris' funeral.
Roane, an evangelist who often worked with Harris, said the loss was especially troubling because Harris was a fellow clergyman.
``It does something to you inside,'' he told about 500 people at the First Baptist Church of Hockley, where the 44-year-old Harris was an associate pastor.
``Vincent Harris left a legacy,'' said Roane. ``He left a legacy that will go forth.
Harris' steel-gray casket was covered by an American flag. Flowers ringed both sides of the brick church's altar.
Roane said he had been unable to visit the crash site because he couldn't believe it happened. But he said he knows Harris is now ``communicating with the one that has all the power in His hands.''
Roane and other speakers urged Harris' wife, Virginia, his 15-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son, and his brothers and sisters to remain faithful during this adversity.
Patricia Edwards, the clerk of the church, read a sampling of the dozens of condolence messages the family has received. One called the crash ``a tragic event for us, but a victorious event for him.''
As mourners shouted ``Amen'' and ``Hallelujah,'' soloist Jerome Davis sang a modified rendition of the hymn ``I Am Redeemed.''
``If anyone asked Vincent just who he was,'' Davis sang, ``he told them `I am redeemed.'''
Harris, the plane's pilot and all 10 skydivers aboard were killed Sunday in an early evening crash about 11/2 miles from the West Point Airport in rural King and Queen County.
Harris was sitting on the back porch while his son played in the yard when the twin-engine plane apparently developed an engine problem, nosedived into his house and burst into flames. The house and aircraft were destroyed.
National Transportation Safety Board investigators plan to take apart the plane's engines to look for clues to the cause of the crash.
Investigators also have said they will try to determine if the removal of a door to allow the plane to be used for skydiving affected its aerodynamics.
by CNB