In Memory

King Keith Harmless - Class Of 1939

King Keith Harmless

Hi Max,

I’m sorry that I didn’t check out your website more thoroughly before emailing you.  I found the Memorial section later.  My parents King Keith Harmless and Marjorie Alice Morris were born and raised in Rockville. King died on July 9, 1966, in Kentucky.  Marge died January 11, 1986, in Kansas.  King was an only child. Marge had a sister and brother.  Her sister, Sara Virginia Morris married Paul Ruric Johnson.  She died in 2010, in California.  Marge’s brother, Dr. Charles Woodard Morris married Marian Brockway (also from Rockville, a student and then English teacher at the High School).  Charles died Feb. 1, 1999, in Kentucky. Marian died in Kentucky and is already on your Memorial page.  Marge, Virginia and King are also in your records, I believe.

They were all outstanding people and always credited their upbringing in Rockville, with their strong sense of family, community and character.  Marge and King Harmless are buried at Memory Gardens.  Virginia was cremated and buried at sea with Paul, with military rites. Charles and Marian are buried in Louisville, KY.( I believe at Cave Hill cemetery, but I am not certain of that.)  Marian Morris told many stories about what the others did as students, when she was teaching.  King Harmless became a Regional Manager for the Keithley-McPherrin turkey division of Ralston Purina.  Marge was an executive secretary for the vice president of Waddell and Reed Investments and graphic artist.  Virginia became a renown desert painter.  Charles became a psychiatrist and Marian taught most of her adult life.  They all kept in close contact with each other and many dear childhood friends, attending reunions and visiting Rockville often.

In fact,  my sister Mary Jane Harmless and myself, Lou Ann Harmless Preston, have put together a trip for this summer.  We plan to visit Rockville, in June for a couple of days.  We are visiting Charles’ children, Allan Brockway Morris and Peggy Morris Silliman, in Louisville, before we come.  We are in touch, on-line with Virginia’s children, who all live in California, Steven Johnson, Celia Johnson Arater, and Keith Johnson.  We are meeting Sandra Lough Richter (daughter of Hugh and Mavis Harmless) and hope that Allan will join us.  It will be the first time my three children will be in Rockville.  We plan to tour the town, see the Morris farm and Harmless home, visit the cemeteries, see a few covered bridges and then spend a day at the library learning more of our genealogy.  It will be a packed couple of days, but we are thrilled to be able to do it.

I’m sure that this is much more information than you were hoping for.  As you can see, I am very proud of my family and I think that it is wonderful that you make space on your website, for those who “came before”.

Lou Ann Preston
January 9, 2014