Mary Katherine "Kitty" Harris

Mary Katherine “Kitty” Harris, 83, was born in Quincy, Florida, on June 13, 1940 to Annie Ruth McKinnon Mahaffey and Carl Mahaffey. She passed with her loved ones by her side on Monday, October 9, 2023.

Kitty is survived by her husband of 56 years, John “Tommy” Harris, whom she married on Sunday, March 26, 1967 and son Cal (Christine) Harris; sisters, Rubylee Logan and Anne (Bobby) Anderson; son John (Robin) Atkinson; grandchildren, Katie (Brian) Trappy, Allie (Marshall) Fulton, and Clarissa Bell; great grandchildren Cora, Levi, and Waylon Trappy; Maverick Fulton.                        

Kitty attended Havana High School in Quincy, Florida and upon graduation went to – Montreat College (Montreat, NC) following her degree led to her obtaining employment at Ft. Pierce Memorial Hospital then Lawnwood Regional Hospital where she retired after 42 years.

Kitty was involved in numerous organizations; she was a member of the HCA Advisory Board, Soroptimist International of St. Lucie County, St. Lucie County Humane Society, president of the Fire Bells of Fort Pierce Fire Department and member of the Junior Women’s Club in Fort Pierce. She was especially devoted to her volunteer work at Treasure Coast Hospice and Indian River Presbyterian Church in Fort Pierce, FL.

She enjoyed traveling with friends and meeting new ones. Kitty loved camping and eventually RVing throughout the continental United States with her husband, Tommy and their pets. She loved her friends deeply and loved bringing smiles to everyone’s faces. Truly selfless and compassionate where everyone in her life was family.

Charities: In lieu of flowers, please offer a donation to Treasure Coast Hospice.

Death is nothing at all.
It does not count.
I have only slipped away into the next room.
Nothing has happened.

Everything remains exactly as it was.
I am I, and you are you,
and the old life that we lived so fondly together is untouched, unchanged.
Whatever we were to each other, that we are still.

Call me by the old familiar name.
Speak of me in the easy way which you always used.
Put no difference into your tone.
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.

Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes that we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me, pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household word that it always was.
Let it be spoken without an effort, without the ghost of a shadow upon it.

Life means all that it ever meant.
It is the same as it ever was.
There is absolute and unbroken continuity.
What is this death but a negligible accident?

Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight?
I am but waiting for you, for an interval,
somewhere very near,
just round the corner.

All is well.
Nothing is hurt; nothing is lost.
One brief moment and all will be as it was before.
How we shall laugh at the trouble of parting when we meet again!

Henry Scott-Holland. "Death Is Nothing At All." Family Friend Poems, https://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/death-is-nothing-at-all-by-henry-scott-holland