Inez Harris

BARTOW -- Mrs. Inez Harris was a nurturing woman, and after her retirement she devoted her time to taking care of the sick and the elderly. "Anything that she could do for other people is what she did," said her daughter, Rozetta Reed of Mulberry. "She cooked for them and fed them. She bathed them, took them to the doctors, to the grocery, anything that she could do." Mrs. Harris, a retired dietitian for Polk General Hospital, died of heart failure Monday (April 3, 2006) at Center Point Rehab Center in Tallahassee. She was 76. The lifelong Floridian was born in Tallahassee on Dec. 17, 1929, and came to Bartow from there 55 years ago. Mrs. Harris, whose mother was very health conscious, became a dietitian and worked at Polk General Hospital for 30 years before retiring. "She believed in a balanced diet and that kind of thing. She was into food and what a person needs and how they carried themselves," Reed said. She cared for the sick and elderly independently as well as through her church work. She was a longtime member at Burkett Chapel Primitive Baptist Church, where she was an usher and member of the Nurse's Guild, Mother's Board and Women's Auxiliary. Mrs. Harris was preceded in death by her husband, John Harris Jr., in 1995. In addition to her daughter, Rozetta Reed, she is survived by her daughters, Gretta Gregory, Fort Pierce, and Mary Harrys, Groveland; sons, John Harris III, Bartow, Richard Harris, Baxley, Ga.; sisters, Rosa Lee Arnold, Shirley Jefferson, both of Tallahassee, Joanne Jackson, Carolyn Johnson, Linda Bosson, all of Miami; brothers, Gilbert Head, Tommy Johnson, Ernest Johnson, Leroy Johnson, all of Tallahassee, Sammy Johnson, Jacksonville, James Johnson, Tampa; 21 grandchildren; 29 great-grandchildren; six great-greatgrandchildren. Visitation will be from 4 to 6 this evening at Williams Funeral Home, Bartow. Services will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at Burkett Chapel AME Church in Bartow.