Albert Harris

Albert Harris was born in Lampertheim, Germany on July 21, 1953 to Anneliese Knorr. He spent the early years of his childhood in Germany where he resided with his mother and grandparents, Anna and Jakob Knorr. When his mother married, he was adopted by Woodrow E. Harris and subsequently immigrated to the United States in 1964. Albert always said that when he first arrived in the United States as a boy, he kept looking for the "cowboys and Indians" because the image of what America looked like was formed from watching Western movies and TV shows.
Being raised in a military family, Albert spent time in many locations including Minnesota, Alaska, and eventually Colorado. At the age of 18, Albert enlisted in the United States Army where he spent the next 21 years honorably serving his country. Initially, Albert intended to join the 101st Airborne unit and did exceptionally well in the training until his first helicopter jump which resulted in a broken leg. Sadly, this ended his airborne career aspirations and he was transferred to the field artillery division.

Albert met his future wife, Evelyn, in Colorado Springs and they were wed on September 9, 1977. It was only a short time later that they welcomed their first child, Audrey, into the world. The happy couple welcomed their second child, Randy, in 1979. Al and his family were stationed by the Army in Germany, Fort Carson, and Fort Sill in Lawton, Oklahoma. During Albert's second assignment to Germany, his family remained in Oklahoma, anticipating he would return in two short years. Not long before he was due to return stateside, Albert was sent to serve in Iraq during Operation Desert Storm. Upon his return to Oklahoma, Albert received his final military assignment as an Army advisor to the National Guard in Aurora, Colorado. After serving for twenty-one years in the military, Albert retired in 1991.

Being the busy body that he was, Albert was not content to stay retired for the rest of his life and started his second career at the United State Postal Service. He worked for the Postal Service for over two decades before retiring for good in 2016. In his retired years, Albert enjoyed taking five-mile-long walks with his beloved dog Pickles every morning. On these long walks, he befriended several neighbors and their dogs. Albert also enjoyed driving his grandkids to and from school everyday and taking them to all the "kid-movies" at the theatre as well as making up silly stories about the adventures of Pickles the dog. His other huge passion was NFL football, and specifically the Minnesota Vikings. Anyone that knew AL, knew better than to bother him when there was a football game on TV. It wasn't uncommon to walk up to Al's house on a Sunday and hear the game on TV blasting loudly, accompanied by his very vocal commentary.

In 2008, Albert was diagnosed with throat cancer and successfully underwent treatment to rid himself of the cancer. However, in 2018, Albert was diagnosed with lung cancer. While Albert once again underwent surgery and treatment to fight cancer, there was ultimately no beating it this time. After several months of declining health, Albert passed away peacefully in his sleep on August 20, 2019 at the University of Colorado Hospital.

Albert is survived by his wife, Evelyn Harris as well as his two children, Audrey (Jason) Bixler and Randy (Sandra Crego) Harris. He also leaves behind several grandchildren: Grace, Andrew, Ian, and Zachary Bixler, Darren, Derek, and Eric Puckett, and Jaynah, Destiny and Ashlynn. Other surviving family members include his siblings, Deborah, William, John, James, and Robin Harris as well as his cousin Brigette Burgess.

Funeral services will be held on Wednesday, August 28, 2019 at 11:00 am at Newcomer East Metro Chapel, 190 Potomac St. Aurora, CO 80011. A private interment ceremony for immediate family will occur at Fort Logan National Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting charitable donations be made to the Turner Syndrome Colorado at http://turner-syndrome.org/