DAVIDSON COUNTY, N.C. — When the late Triad pastor, Dr. Ken Harris, battled COVID-19 he used the phrase 'You are loved' to end in his social media updates. Harris was the senior pastor at Union Grove Baptist Church. The husband and father however died from the virus January 27.
His widow wants to continue keeping his memory alive as his posthumous birthday approaches.
"He really put family first and so we were able to travel a lot, especially since Claire's joined our family. We've had so many adventures all over the world and so I'm thankful for those memories," Kim Harris, the pastor's widow said.
Harris said she and her daughter, Claire, are holding on dearly to those memories.
She also recalled the last spoken conversation she had with her late husband.
"I said 'I love you, I'll talk to you in a few hours and he said 'I love you' and that was the last words I heard him say to me," Harris said.
Pastor Harris was a frequent visitor at the church's school where his wife is a teacher.
The students some of whom also attended church services on Sundays, remembered him fondly. They said he would pop into class occasionally to see his wife or drop her a gift or flowers.
"My dad is a pastor so I can feel for what Claire would feel like if I lost my dad," fifth grade student Annie Pittman said.
"Every time he came into the room to give Ms. Harris something he would always talk to us and he was always fun," fifth grader Anson Kiser said.
"I really liked his preaching. It was always enjoyable to come to church and listen to what he had to say," said Gemma Sharp, also a 5th grader.
Many of the students said they prayed for the pastor and hoped he would get better. When that didn't happen and he passed away, they said they prayed for the family he left behind.
"Our teacher has been phenomenal this year with everything that she's gone through, and every day I can tell that she just looks to God for everything that she needs," fifth grader Hunter Bishop said.
Now many of the students and school staff, wear paraphernalia like t-shirts, masks, and rubber wrist bands in memory of Pastor Harris.
"This wristband, it says 'Hope for Pastor' and it just helps me remember him. When I look at it and if I think it I'm in the downs or in a low valley, I can always look to God and He can help me through it and there's always hope for tomorrow," added Sarah Tritt, also a 5th-grade student.
In honor of Pastor Harris's first posthumous birthday Friday, his family wants people to put a gift card or cash of at least $10 in an encouraging note and hand it to a total stranger. Harris said such a random act of kindness could bring hope to the person who wasn't expecting it.
"We are still or clinging to that hope. The hope that he put forward. It took on a different meaning once he died but we still continue to grasp onto his message of hope," she said.
Pastor Harris would have turned 57.
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