Winscott Road Funeral Home & Cremation Services

12/30/2025

Helen Grace Laza

In Loving Memory of Helen Grace Laza

Helen Grace Laza, 89, passed away peacefully on December 28, 2025, surrounded by the love of her family. Helen was born on September 18, 1936, in Danville, IL, to James Miles Canaday and Mary Virgina Hall Canaday. She worked in Crawfordsville, IN at the R.R. Donnally & Sons printing company as a proofreader for seven years after high school until she ventured out to join the U.S. Air Force in 1963. She was stationed at Lackland AFB in San Antionio, TX for basic training and later at Greenville AFB in Greenville, MS and Carswell AFB in Fort Worth, TX.

Helen was a homemaker for several years when her daughters were young then worked as a realtor, a successful salesperson and later in administration for the City of Fort Worth at the Will Rogers Memorial Center until her retirement in 2000. She married her husband, Jerry Norman Laza in 2004 and they have enjoyed their retirement years together. She loved singing and gospel music and was a member of the Goldtones Chorus where she performed at local retirement centers and performance halls. Helen loved playing Scrabble, gardening and traveling. Her favorite travel destinations were England and Lake Lucerne, Switzerland.

Helen was also known as Mama Helen and was a maternal force of nature for people and pets who needed a bandage, a meal or a hug. And she was fierce! Hell-on-Wheels! Helen was an empathetic listener and an advocate for the misfortunate, but not someone to be crossed. She loved dressing up in silly outfits and glittery costumes, especially for Halloween. She was a caring mother and grandmother who never minded mud, puddles, or paint as long as the kids had fun.

Everyone was amused by Helen’s malapropisms. She would talk about a person with ADD as having Adult Detention Disorder or a person needing an MRI required Magnetic Renaissance Imaging. A wine that she especially liked was “Cabaret”. Helen kept her family and friends in stitches of laughter telling them to remember that “Great minds work together!”

She is survived by her husband Jerry and by her daughters, Vonne Hillman Whittleton and Amy Hillman Free and sons-in-law, Chris Whittleton and Steven Free; her beloved grandchildren, Lana Hope Whittleton, Matthew Granville Free, Dean Christopher Whittleton and Benjamin Wright Free. Visitation hours will be at the Winscott Road Funeral Home, 1001 Winscott Road, Benbrook, TX 76126 from 6pm-8pm on Monday, January 5, 2026. A funeral service will also be held at the Winscott Funeral Home the following day, Tuesday, January 6, 2026, at 11am. She will be buried at a private service at the Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery for military personnel.

Helen will be deeply missed by all who knew her.

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12/23/2025

12/17/2025

Joe Harris

Thomas Joe Harris, age 72, of Benbrook, Texas died Friday, December 5, 2025, in Dallas, Texas.

Mr. Harris was born November 2, 1953, in Memphis, Tennessee to the late Aubrey Lee “Sonny” and Marilyn Causey Harris and was raised in Forrest City, Arkansas.

Joe married Rebecca Jo Penn, the love of his life, in 1975 while attending ASU, Jonesboro, Arkansas. They were married for 47 years, and she preceded him in death in 2022. Also preceding him in death were brothers, Ben Boren Harris and John William Harris.

Joe is survived by two daughters, Mary Joni Harris and husband GJ Hodson of Arlington, TX, and Marilyn Elizabeth Patton of Benbrook, TX; one brother, Aubrey Lee “Al” Harris III and wife Nell of Little Rock, AR; and three granddaughters, Maya Cortez, Ava Shaffer, and Audrey Patton.

Joe graduated from Forrest City High School in 1972, attended Arkansas State University, and graduated the University of Oklahoma in 1978 with BS Engineering in Meteorology.

After graduation, Joe worked as a meteorologist for Phelps Dodge Corp, Ajo, Arizona, W.A.R.N. Inc., Wellston, Oklahoma and the U.S. Army Atmospheric Science Laboratory in Fort Huachuca, Arizona. His career moved to the National Weather Service in 1985 at WFO Brownsville, Texas, AWSC Stoneville, Mississippi, WSMO Stephenville, Texas and 20 years at WFO Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas until retiring in 2015.

Mr. Harris was one of nine NWS meteorologists awarded the U.S. DOC Bronze Medal for “on-site weather forecasts and warning efforts to protect first responders during the Space Shuttle Columbia Recovery during the spring and summer of 2001”. This led him to become a certificated Incident Meteorologist, and he worked on many wildfires across the western and central US between 2006 and 2015. Those years as an IMET were the most rewarding of his NWS career.

In retirement, Joe spent his remaining years enjoying and supporting his wife, daughters, and grandchildren. Together they enjoyed gulf coast vacations in Galveston, weekend trips across Texas, visiting Fort Worth’s art museums, local art festivals and music concerts. During his early to middle adult life, he studied photography, wood working, computer programming and repair, automotive repair, carpentry, hiking and camping. He had a great passion for all genres of music, especially old Blues and Motown, as well as mathematics, astronomy, and science in general.

His father introduced him to turkey hunting in 1983, and they spent many spring turkey seasons together at Hardin Point Hunting Club until his father’s death in 2010. Afterwards, he hunted gobblers with his nephew, Will Harris. After retiring, he enjoyed hunting ducks and deer in the White River bottoms with his older brother Al Harris.

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