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This memorial website was created in the memory of our loved one, Harrison Smith who was born in Atlanta on September 20, 1986 and passed away on June 08, 2005 in an auto accident at the age of 18. We will remember him forever.
W. Harrison Smith
1986 – 2005
The morning of June 8, 2005 is one I will never forget. I was sleeping soundly when my phoned shrilled about 6 o’clock that morning. My temptation to ignore the ringing was very strong. I had been up late the night before, and I remember thinking fuzzily I’ll just let it go. It was probably a wrong number that early in the morning, anyway. Suddenly, I jerked fully awake. Some internal alarm was insisting I pick-up the phone. My long time friend, Kaitlin, was on the line. With a tremble in her voice, barely catching back a sob, she told me that my best friend Harrison had been in a very bad accident. She explained he had been out with three of our friends from school the previous night. Harrison was driving and the boys were on their way home when another automobile, a corvette, cut them off on Johnsons Ferry Road. Harry made a very bad decision. He picked-up speed to catch the other driver. He lost control of the car and it flew into a telephone pole. Kaitlin took a long deep breath, and went on to tell me that Harrison was the only one that didn’t make it. He was 18 years old.
“Morgan I am so sorry,” Kaitlin kept repeating. I sat in stunned horror clenching the telephone in my hands. I kept trying to blink my eyes. I remember thinking I will wake-up from this horrible dream anytime now. I remained speechless. I knew I was awake when I began to cry. I told Kaitlin, “I have to go.” The next few moments passed in a blur. As I looked down at my phone to clear the call I began to tremble. Shining on the display was a missed call. I had slept through what would have been the most important phone call of my life. Harry had telephoned me about an hour before he died and I had missed it. I knew it was irrational, but I dialed him back. I knew in my head he could not answer, but my heart believed he might. The call rang through to his answering machine. The comfort I felt hearing his voice was indescribable. The next hour crawled past. I felt suffocated, as if the walls were caving-in on me. Slowly, as I began to comprehend the reality of what had happened, I become angry. I asked God over and over again how something so horrible could happen to someone so wonderful. How could God take someone so precious from his friends and family, all the people who cared for and loved him? I could make no sense of the accident. My heart ached.
I then heard my door knob turning. Mom and Dad were coming in. They had just heard about the accident on the morning news. Mom threw her arms around me; she didn’t say a word. Dad stood by the door and I could see he was struggling to find the right words to say. How could he offer comfort? I found myself unable to hug Mom back. I was paralyzed. I was never going to be able to move any inch of my body again. My telephone began to ring over and over. I ignored the calls and soon turned it off. I couldn’t talk to anyone because I feared the pain of hearing the story again. I asked my parents for privacy, and after they left I lay on my bed staring at a picture of Harrison and me. All I wanted was to be alone to cry. I can remember thinking about when my older brother had lost one of his best friends in high school. Silly me, I never thought something that awful could ever happen to me or any of my friends.
Later in the morning, I felt a need to go to Harrison’s home. All I wanted was to sit quietly in his room; the room where I had visited Harry for over three years. Why, the last time was only two weeks earlier! He and I had lounged on his huge bean bag chair together and secretly watched America’s Funniest Home Videos, knowing we were supposed to be studying for the next day’s Latin final. How we had laughed together! Memories of Harrison continued to flood my mind. Harry always made me laugh. He always made me feel important. We were immediate friends from the day we met in high school the beginning of my sophomore year. I remember wishing I had met him sooner, so I could have known him longer. I thought of Harrison’s passion for helping and listening, really listening, to others. I had often heard friends remark how he seemed, at times, like an angel sent from Heaven. Of course, all who knew Harrison also knew he had a touch of an impish devil in him as well. I remembered meeting Harry’s mother for the first time when she was painting her main stairway in the foyer of their house. The second she grinned at me I knew where Harrison had gotten his beautiful smile.
Early that afternoon I realized that the best thing was for me to go to his house. Two of my friends also arrived. We quietly told each other stories about Harry and we smiled and cried as we listened to his beloved music and leafed thorough his photographs of all of us together. It almost seemed as if we were waiting for Harry to come barging through the door grinning and laughing and happy to spend an afternoon hanging out with his friends. That is when reality sunk in that I was never going to get to see my Harry come barging in the room with open arms and a huge smile on his face.
That evening, I joined a group of Harrison’s friends. We set out on a sad pilgrimage to the site of the accident. There we saw broken glass from the wreck. I met and talked to one of the firemen who had tried to help Harrison. He told me this was the first accident he was called to as a new firefighter. I could see the same devastation in his eyes that showed in each of ours. He asked if he could stay with us as we continued to talk about Harry. As the end of the evening approached we lit a candle and said a prayer together in Harrison’s memory.
Harrison’s funeral was amazing. He might have planned it himself to comfort us as we each began our long journey into the future without him. There was a slide show, picture collages, and remembrance bracelets were passed out to everyone (I still wear mine as an anklet.) What a great crowd arrived to tell their son, their brother, their friend goodbye. Speeches were made. Toward the end, we each received a helium balloon and a marker. I wrote the words “I love you and will never forget you” on my balloon before releasing it to join all the others. What a grand sight the colorful little bubbles made as they started their graceful and soaring flights into the shining summer sky! I knew, at that moment, Harrison was smiling down at all of us. He was grinning and waving and saying au revoir - not goodbye, but see you later.
More than a year has passed since we lost Harrison. In late June of 2005 the ‘W. Harrison Smith Memorial Endowment’ was established Harrison’s family to aid three graduating seniors in the 2006 class at Lassiter High School, as they entered their first year in college. The family indicated they wished to remember Harrison by these scholarships recognizing his classmates “who exhibit one or more of the outstanding character traits that Harrison displayed.” I was honored to be one of the three students. Harrison always was and continues to be an inspiration to me. If I feel unhappy I look at his picture, I telephone his mother, and I actually talk to him at times on his memorial website and in my heart. He taught his young friends a hard and hard and hard lesson. We aren’t invincible and driving too fast in an automobile can, and will, take your life. I keep a small photo of Harry on my car dashboard, right by my speedometer, so anytime I’m running late and tempted to speed Harry reminds me to slow down. All my wonderful high school memories have Harrison in them and he should be here at college with us now. A quote from his memorial site says it all, “My family will never be the same. My friends had to learn the truth the hard way, about that feeling of invincibility. I was killed in a car crash on June 8, 2005.” Harrison, Harriman, H-Man, and Harry we love you still.
Morgan Sadler
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 Tributes and Condolences |
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11-24-2011 / Bunnie Ohman (Mother)
Well today is Thanksginving. I am thankful to have had time will you, but always, I wish for more. When I come here, I cry, even if I try not to. The pictures of you takes my breathe away, it stops my heart.
Yesterday I was on facebook (you would h...
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6 years (and a couple days) / Christopher Collins (friend)
Hey Harrison
Sorry I didn't write last wednesday. You know I am always thinking about you. I still have that wooden gold star with your photo in my car and the pictures from our Disney trip in my glove compartment. You are still in my thoughts and...
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Missing you! / Morgan Sadler (Friend)
Harrison
Miss you more than ever! We lost someone else today and all I could think was how jealous I was that she would get to see you again sooner than me. It brought back crazy emotional memories and all I can say is I miss you more and more eac...
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5 years / Chris Collins (friend)
You know Harrison sometimes I don't know what I would be doing now if it wasn't for that night. People see that night as an accident and terrible tragedy. I understand in a way it was. But I try not to think of the bad but only the good that ca...
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Another year! / Morgan Sadler (Friend)
Hey Harrison
I can not believe it has been another year! It seems like just yesterday we were goofing off pretending to study Latin. Haha I miss you dearly! I am graduating in Juli and find myself really wishing that you could be here with me to cel...
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Happy birthday / Chris Collins (friend) Read >> |
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Happy Birthday Angel~ / Saira Haider Read >> |
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! / Lauren Ninneman (friend) Read >> |
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Just Wonderin' / John Ohman (Step Dad ) Read >> |
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missing you / Chris Collins (friend) Read >> |
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Missing you! / Morgan Sadler (friend) Read >> |
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missing you / Morgan Sadler (friend) Read >> |
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never going to belive it!!! / Lauren Ninneman (Friend) Read >> |
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the holidays / Morgan Sadler (Friend) Read >> |
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Miss You / Courtney Read >> |
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| Harrison's Photo Album |
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