08.31.05
Posted in Memories at 11:23 pm by Tarlie Harris
My first impression of Lucas was that he was, in fact, Harry Connick, Jr. This was at a performance by my band in Auburn several years ago, and although he didn’t turn out to be the crooner, he became a loyal supporter of our music and a very good friend. Our respective girlfriends were friends from Montgomery and we eventually ended up as next door neighbors there on Wright’s Mill Rd in Auburn. Lucas would frequently help me with car trouble, as he was quite handy (and the only screwdriver I’ve heard of contains orange juice). He was very generous and a great neighbor.
The main thing I remember about Lucas is lots and lots of good times. This was my second pass through Auburn and as an old guy I didn’t know too many other folks and so he and I spent more than a few nights hanging out at home like old codgers while the town partied around us. (We might have partied a little, too). I remember those times very warmly. Lucas was never anything but upbeat and fun, smiling and laughing.
Sometimes those nights would bring out a depth to Lucas that one wouldn’t always see otherwise, Lucas not being the type to talk incessantly. In particular I remember he and I watching coverage of the war in Iraq late into the evenings and discussing the state of the world at length.
I remember throwing the football in the yard, chasing after one of those many dogs, getting my girlfriend’s cat(Larry) out of a tree…simple memories of good times.
I know there was a lot more to Lucas than I was ever aware of, but I just remember a good guy, a good buddy, a good neighbor. And to me that’s as valuable as anything and I won’t forget it.
Dan Campbell
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Posted in Memories at 1:34 pm by Tarlie Harris
Lucas was like a part of our family for years and we all loved him. Lucas was always fun to be around, and he always LOVED anything I cooked! He was always interested in me and those around him, and very respectful of the elderly. He never failed to mention how “Pops” was doing. He also was so proud of you and your brothers, and loved to fill me in on the latest about you all. For someone with a laid back kind of attitude, his polish and manners came through when they were needed.
Someone once said that it is not what you say that people remember, but how you make them feel……Lucas made me feel good …. I gave him a wallet one Christmas and he brought out his current wallet which was at that time a paper clip… you would have thought I had given him gold……..
Lucas quickly claimed a special place in my heart…. with times being uncertain and futures uncertain too, when my mind wanders to things I cannot understand and will never know, it helps me to focus on the things I do know…… and that is, that Lucas was a very special person to me.
God’s Peace,
Linda White
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08.30.05
Posted in Memories at 5:51 pm by Jacob Kirkland
Now Alan and Scott I know will never forget this Lucas moment. We were all hanging out at the famous Dubose Apartments in Auburn in Spring of 2000 (I think). Lucas had just become Alan’s neighbor in this small apartment complex. Anyways, Lucas had figured a way not to pay for power by messing with the power box. He would have to jiggle with it every now and then to keep it on. One day he kept coming back and saying they must have figured it out. Lucas was not going to give up though. Anyways he went back to mess with it and this time when he comes back he looks like he saw a Ghost. He really couldnt talk. He walked into Alan’s and just said “I got Electrocuted”. His hair was even standing up. He then just sat there and kinda was silent the rest of the day. We were obviously very concerned at first when he said he got electrocuted, but once we saw he was fine we could not stop laughing. I know we all shared many laughs with Lucas about the time he got electrocuted..
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Posted in Memories at 4:57 pm by lane bailey
Lucas was the most enthusiastic person i have known when it came to something that he liked. One of my favorite things that I remember about Lucas was watching the O.C. with him. Even when he moved to montgomery from Auburn he would call to remind me how many minutes or hours till the O.C. began. He loved the song they play at the beginning ” california here we come…..” i laugh right now thinking about him calling when it was on and singing along over the phone. It was great. I remember having serious conversations with Lucas about these characters and whatever their drama was that week. I think that we thought they were actually real!!
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Posted in Memories at 3:51 pm by rdurden
Lucas had a unique sense of style. He would rather give every penny he had to the homeless than spend it on an article of clothing for himself. His favorite was the “Harris Family Vintage” line. One in particular was the “buy low, sell high” shirt. We even joked about how we shared a wardrobe during college, as his fashion sense began to have an impact me. His laid-back approach to fashion along with his Harry Connick Jr good looks almost jump-started a modeling career. At his debut session in Atlanta, the photographer was stunned by his wrinkled attire, while he proudly posed for the pictures. Wrinkled clothes were never a concern for Lucas, especially when it was his turn to do the Laundry. When he lived on Payne Street, he was famous for the 2′ pile of clothing that carpeted his bedroom floor. He was too busy making people smile to waste time doing the laundry.
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Posted in Memories at 3:50 pm by JudiMom
When Lucas was little… about four .. he decided that he wanted aMohawk haircut. Of course, his Dad and I did not want for him to have a Mowhawk because ??? (not sure what our reason was at all) so we just did not take him to the barber shop to get one. We thought we had won that battle by default. His grandparents, PopPaw and Grandmother Harris, came to Millbrook to visit later that summer and stayed for several days. Jerry and i were at work each day and left everyone at home with grandmother. Soon Lucas had talked his PopPaw into taking him to get a haircut in Prattville…. and when he hopped up in the chair he said he wanted a “Mowhawk”. I’m sure PopPaw had no idea that this was Lucas’ plan so he called me and asked me what to do? I said “Well, what does it matter…. just let him get it if he wants it that bad!” And so when we got home that afternoon Lucas had a Mohawk….
I’m not sure what he thought our reaction would be but I never said a thing to him and told the other kids and Jerry to just not comment to him about it. He did ask me right out after a while “How do you like my haircut, mom?” and I just shrugged my shoulder, looked at him with a question on my face and probably a shake of the head but did not say a word.
The next afternoon when I got home he had a burr cut. I asked him… “What happened to your Mowhawk?” and he said well if no one is going to talk about it I didn’t want it anymore so I asked PopPaw to take me back and to get a burr cut. I told him I liked the burr cut alot!! Lucas had a burr cut several times in his life but only one Mowhawk and it just lasted a day.
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Posted in Memories at 2:27 pm by Dayna Mullins
I met Lucas when I was a sophomore at Vanderbilt when he came to visit Tarlie for the weekend. From the moment he arrived, Lucas made himself right at home among all of Tarlie’s girlfriends. He was so charming even as an adolescent…I think he was still in high school, yet was very comfortable being the center of attention of college girls! Between his good looks, soulful eyes, and quirky sense of humor Lucas made an indelible impression on me…actually on all of us. I’m pretty sure I developed an immediate crush!
Lucas joined us for a sorority ranch party in the middle of no where Tennessee. We had a wild time at the party, and thinking back, the venue was more like a run down shack than a ranch! Nonetheless, we had a great time and Lucas was always ready to get involved, dancing, singing, telling funny stories around the bonfire, and partaking in the general merriment. In addition to telling his own tales, I remember watching Lucas listen to our stories — he clung to each and every word, but it was watching Lucas that was really the entertainment, his expressions were a show in and of themselves. His laugh, and as Tarlie said, his crooked smile so endearing…he was the perfect audience and had a way about him that made you feel like you were the only person in the room.
Lucas always seemed more like an old friend to me than Tarlie’s younger brother. I will always remember his immitations of me from that party, he was such a joker. In fact, years passed since I had seen him, yet when I saw him at Tarlie’s wedding the first thing he did was make fun of something I did at the ranch party, never allowing me to live it down. I think Lucas’ love of people, desire to connect, eagerness to share, and readiness to have fun make him one of the most lovable, adorable, and memorable people I’ve ever met. I will forever cherish the memories we made and experiences we shared.
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08.24.05
Posted in Memories at 12:31 am by Tarlie Harris
My favorite thing to do with Lucas was listen to music and sing. That may be the case for a lot of you out there, he had quite a passion for all types of music. Listening to and seeing good music was a passion that we shared, something we could connect on and keep in touch through. He was the first person I told about a new band that I had discovered. He was the person I wanted with me for a damn good show. He was hilarious about getting obsessed with some “new” band too. When he was up here in NYC last summer, all he would listen to was Otis Redding. Same album, over and over again. The summer before that, I went to see him in Auburn, and Rob and I weren’t in the door for two minutes before we had to watch the entire Ben Harper DVD, I think it was about Lucas’ 25th time that weekend. The summer before that, he was in our parent’s basement with The Band DVD that he absolutely would not let anyone walk into the room without watching, discussing, jamming and then rewatching. And somewhere in between all of his jam banding, I remember a period of time where the only thing I could hear in his car was “so fresh and so clean.” He was so funny that way.
He was up here this past April for his birthday and we went and saw MoFro at a pretty small venue. It was one of my favorite feelings, just to look over and nod at Lucas knowing that we were both thinking “yup, this guy is pretty damn good – let’s rock out.” Lucas wasn’t stingy with the hooping and hollering either. Man, anybody that went to that damn Courtyard 280 bar in Birmingham while that all black band (Lucas knew them all by name of course) was playing was witness to the endless encouragement Lucas would offer up to the singers. Jacob – I know you know what I’m talking about.
And then last, but certainly not least, the karaoke. I can’t believe I am admitting this to everyone, but I actually have a karaoke machine in my apartment! So, maybe Lucas just couldn’t help karaoking Strokin’ everywhere he went, it was just in his blood. I am so glad that I got to witness this well crafted gift of his at least once. I am sure Morgan will have more to say on this, he literally had the entire bar whoooping it up for him when he did that song. It was one of the funniest things I have seen. When he was up here last summer, one of our only times of just pure joy and being silly was doing karaoke in my apartment. Just the two us, and we laughed at each other until we were on the floor and couldn’t breathe. He must of done A Boy Named Sue 15 times in a row in one sitting, each time dead serious about keeping the voice low, getting better each time, and really yelling out the end.
Tarlie and Lucas, May 2005
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08.23.05
Posted in Memories at 11:08 pm by Rob Rosenfeld
I came home to Montgomery with Gabe a few times and saw Lucas grow up in big leaps. After one such leap that had seen Lucas grow big and strong through two-a-days and the Jerry Harris protein diet TM, I came down for a visit while Gabe and Lucas were enthralled with Ultimate Fighting. If you’ve never heard of it, imagine a boxing match with the rules pro wrestling pretends it has. A common strategy is to get your opponent into a “submission” hold, something that hurts so bad that the psycho competitors beg for mercy. Gabe and Lucas practiced submission holds on each other throughout the visit. I’m a pussy, so I only watched and they left me alone, but they were getting good at it. Too good.
One night as Gabe unlocked the car for a ride, I called shotgun, relegating Lucas to the back seat. Apparently Lucas was tired of sitting in back. Before I could touch the door handle, I was writhing in pain on the parking lot asphalt. Submission holds work! Lucas could have taken the front seat or anything else from me in that parking lot, but he just kept my pride. That day he graduated from little brother status.
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