A condensed Life-story

Walter Harris was born in April 1910 in East Finchley, London. His father was a printer, who after a few years moved back to the family home of Stony Stratford (now part of Milton Keynes), becoming known in the town as "the King's printer" (because while in London he had worked for the company that did printing work for Buckingham Palace). Walter went to school at Wolverton Grammar, and after school went into the printing office, where among other things he did proofreading - well into retirement, he could still open a page of the newspaper and "instantly" spot the errors.

There had been a long history of Harris men acting as lay preachers, and Walter continued that tradition; his records show that sermon number 1 was on "Greater love hath no man", preached on June 30th 1929 at Deanshanger. He spent a few years serving the chapels around Stony Stratford, and often had to play the organ as well as take the service. Then he was challenged to consider the ministry, and at age 22 started at Spurgeon's College. Even in those days he was regarded as something of an authority, affectionately known as "Dad Harris" by the other students, partly due to being slightly older, but partly his willingness to help them. He gained the London University BD (the first from Spurgeon's College); later, while at Soham, he studied for and gained the M.Th (the first ever awarded to any London University external student).

Walter started his ministry at Soham Baptist Church, Cambridgeshire - there are people there today who recall those days with affection. For the family, the chief event was that he married the Church Secretary's daughter Phyllis on September 10th 1941. The next move was a brief one, to Wollaston in Northamptonshire, followed in 1946 to the joint pastorate of Rawdon and Guiseley Baptist Churches in Yorkshire, where a very happy 15 years was spent - mainly cycling between the two churches. The system was that Walter took a morning service at one church and the evening at the other, swapping round alternate weeks, and that a student at the Rawdon Baptist College would take the service wherever he wasn't; Walter also taught Greek at the college for a while - there are many tales told by students who found themselves at Rawdon for a service, to see many of their tutors in the congregation. It was at Rawdon that the family grew up, and Rosalie's friend Katie was introduced to the manse family.

After Bernard left to go to college in 1961, the family moved to Coleford in the Forest of Dean, for another 15-year pastorate. This was a time of "settling down" for the Coleford church, after a fairly traumatic past. Generous tributes have recently been paid about that period, during which the church building was rebuilt from the inside, with a style and taste that has kept it attractive to this day. Bernard and Rosalie, and later Marguerite, were baptised there. His "first retirement" in 1975 took him to Little Kimble, near Aylesbury, and then shortly after his wife's death the "second retirement" in 1982 brought him to live with Bernard and Katie in Woodley.

In his early life, he travelled everywhere by cycle, progressing in Coleford days to a motorised cycle and then to the "luxury" of a Reliant Robin! He loved the English countryside and was a member of the National Trust. Letter writing took up much of his time (the majority of his relatives live in Canada), and he also collected stamps, and over the years had recorded an extensive "family tree". Since 1984 he had made a rug each year, to give to someone. By his chair was a "rogue's gallery" of family photos, and his pleasure in the 9 grandchildren (plus a number of "adopted" ones) was intense. His greatest pleasures were reading, especially biographies and poetry, and listening to classical music, particularly oratorios and cantatas. He more often than not finished both Telegraph crosswords. In earlier days he was a keen vegetable gardener, moving to flowers after the move to Woodley. After his 80th birthday he wrote his autobiography, and subsequently recorded key events in the following years.

He was a firm supporter of the BMS. While at Rawdon, the son of the church secretary had trained for the ministry and went with the BMS to Chittagong (where Sue Headlam has been working recently). At Coleford, first Averil Cooper and then Rosalie went to serve in Africa. This interest was later extended to the many mission organisations known to Woodley, and particularly to the people who went on overseas service.

Walter's ministry was a gentle one. He had often to be a peacemaker between differences of opinion in the churches, influencing people as much by his attitude as by his reasoning. Only once have I ever heard him preach a message that seriously rebuked a congregation (it was justified!). Yet he was clear about the essentials of faith, able always to find the apt quotation from Scripture (mostly from memory), and eloquent in persuading his hearers of the firm foundation of faith, in simple terms. He never showed off his education, but relished the simple explanations and similes - he kept a file of "clippings" to use on different occasions. For example, when his wife died, he told (for Adrian and Chris) a story he'd heard told when a boy ...

Birds build nests to bring up their young. They need somewhere to lay the eggs,

and for the baby birds to develop. But once the young birds have developed,

they don't need the nest any more, because they can fly, and that's

what they were made to do. And God made us to be with Him.

We need our bodies at this stage of our lives. But then there comes a point

where we don't need them anymore, so the nest is abandoned,

and we fly to be with God.

He prayed for people - he had a rotating calendar of all the 167 weddings, 502 funerals, 167 dedications and 84 baptisms he had taken, and each day remembered the people or families named. Wherever possible, he would write to mark special anniversaries. In some cases, his influence spread to the children and grandchildren of couples he had married. His letters of condolence were said to be helpful, most recently at the end of January to friends of Bernard and Katie. He lived by the principle of thinking and saying only the best of other people.

Sunday February 6th started a "normal Sunday". Walter had set the table for breakfast, chatted during breakfast about the day ahead; his coat, hymn-book and Bible were ready for church, and he helped with the drying-up. At the end of the drying up, with the tea-towel still in his hand, he simply fell to the floor.

"And Enoch walked with God, and was not, for the Lord took him"

"Blessed be the name of the Lord".

BJH 7th Feb 2000

He liveth long who loveth well, Then fill each hour with what will last,

All else is but life thrown away! Buy up the moments as they go,

He liveth longest who can tell The life above, when this is past,

Of true things truly done each day. Is the ripe fruit of life below.

Horatio Bonar

O thou of little faith, And if He's helped thee hitherto,

God has not failed thee yet! He will not fail thee now;

When all looks dark and gloomy, How it must wound His loving heart

Thou dost so soon forget - To see thy anxious brow!

Forget that He has led thee, O doubt not any longer,

And gently cleared the way, To him commit thy way,

On clouds has poured His sunshine, Whom in the past thou trusted,

And turned thy night to day. And is the same today.

Anon