Raymond Alexander Harris

Raymond Harris DARLINGTON - Raymond Alexander Harris died Monday, May 30, 2016. A memorial service will be held 11:00 a.m. Friday, June 3, at the Darlington Presbyterian Church. Belk Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. The family will welcome friends at the Darlington Country Club following the service. Born in Forestville, NC, February 3, 1927, he was raised in Wake Forest, NC the son of Mary Alice Brooks and Raymond Lee Harris. So anxious was he to serve in the US Navy in World War II, that with his father's permission, he altered his birth certificate so he could enlist three months shy of his seventeenth birthday, a deviance later unearthed when he applied to work with the FBI, albeit to his patriotic credit. He later worked in the Safety Department of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in Wilmington, NC. He then entered the hardware business in Darlington, SC as a partner to the late Frank McKeel. He left the hardware business to establish his own real estate company. An interest in politics led him to help develop the fledgling Republican Party in SC. He was proud that he began as a precinct chairman, was elected Chairman of the SC Republican Party and ultimately became a National Committeeman. After his service in the US Navy and before becoming a Special Agent with the FBI, Mr. Harris entered Wake Forest College, where he played on the golf team and was a 1950 graduate. He was married to Vi Haynsworth Barringer in 1951 by whom he is survived. He is also survived by his six children: Belva Harris Chase and her three children, John Ravenel Chase, Jr. and wife, Mason, Alexa C. Pack and husband, Michael and Lucas Barringer Chase; Vi Harris Owens and husband, Reese and their two sons, Addison Reese Owen and Harris Jed Owen; Raymond Alexander Harris, Jr., his wife, Sarah and their three children, Knox Nelson Harris, Raymond Alexander Harris, III, and Nelson Barringer Harris; Laurence Barringer Harris and his three children, Caroline Beattie Harris, Laurence Barringer Harris, Jr., and Mary Scott Harris; Mary Harris Crane, her husband, Frank and their three children, Isabel Radford Murray, Margaret Barringer Radford and Austin Carroll Crane and his wife, Alexandra; James gill Harris and his wife, Elizabeth and their two daughters, Elizabeth Haynsworth Harris and Dorothy McCown Harris and seven great grandchildren: Mary Soutter Pack, Michael Stanley Pack III, Isabella Beth Murray, Jane Abigail Murray, Natalie Elizabeth Chase, John Ravenel Chase III and Oliver Burnett Crane. Mr. Harris was preceded in death by his parents and his sisters, Alice Lee Harris Bryan and Jane Harris McDonald. Ray loved his family, his friends, his country. Though born a Tarheel and a Baptist, he embraced South Carolina and became a good Presbyterian. Memorials may be made to the Darlington Presbyterian Church, 311 Pearl Street., Darlington, SC 29532, the SC Republican Party or the charity of one's choice. An online guestbook is available at www.belkfuneralhome.com.