02/01/2026
The 92-year long life of community-minded Barbara H. Harris came to an end Thursday, January 29, 2026, in Montgomery, AL.
Starting promptly at 2 p.m. Thursday, February 5, 2026, there will be a memorial service at Montgomery's Immanuel Presbyterian Church, 8790 Vaughn Rd., officiated by Rev. Elizabeth O'Neill with interment following at Greenwood Cemetery; arrangements by E.G. Cummings Funeral Home.
Positive she was not going to see 92, a few days before her birthday she dictated her obituary. It was two paragraphs, 115 words long, heavy on the names of surviving family members. Obviously, the very modest Barbara Harris did not compose most of what's printed here.
A native of Oklahoma City, Okla., Barbara lived more than 55 years in Montgomery, the final resting place of her husband Herman Harris, former Montgomery County Board of Education member, one of the first blacks elected to the City Council and the love of her life. Barbara and Herman were devout patrons of their community, whose civic and cultural life they endeavored to sustain. Barbara's union with first husband, Dr. William E. Johnson, deceased, produced their only children. Early in that marriage William was beneficiary of Barbara's talents as an amazingly accurate, speedy typist. Using the mandatory, very delicate, onion-skin paper she typed three revisions of her ex-husband's scientific dissertation. "Barbara could make a typewriter sing," enthused Nexton Marshall Jr., former director of the state's Center for Economic Growth, who worked with her at Alabama State.
Survivors include: sons Carl S. (Yvette) Johnson and Rev. Michael T. (Lois) Johnson; one exceptionally devoted daughter, Cheryl Johnson; grandchildren: Cormic Priester, Kamil Johnson, Gabrielle (Daniel) Jenkins, Carl S. Johnson II, Christopher Johnson, Courtney Johnson; a grandparrot, Alexander I. Wilbiteuhardt; great grandchildren: Devaughn Priester, Dillion Priester, Danasia Jenkins, Danielle Jenkins, Destiny Jenkins; two sisters and a brother: Jacqueline McDuffy, Wanda Vinson and Joe McDuffy; nephew Monroe (Monica) Hinton; daughter-in-law Barbara M. Harris; a host of H.K. and Mary Harris descendants, aka "The Birmingham Gang," especially faithful nieces Cynthia Grant, Annie D. Talley, Queen E. Davis, Doro Gunn and nephew Pastor W. Dexter Harris Sr.; dear friends Doris Cross, Lovye Cochran, Mary and Nexton Marshall, Ada Thomas, David Burkett, Dr. Charlotte Morris, Sarah Gay Edwards, Helen Cooley, Belinda Hudson, Sam and Mildred Bruce, Peggy and Richard Allen, Mary Bullock and Mary Briers. Tangential survivors include marvelous Dr. Pamela Tuck, her extremely patient nursing staff; health workers at Baptist East Medical Center and some very sweet staffers at Montgomery Cancer Center and UAB.
According to Dr. Martin Luther King "Everybody can be great because anybody can serve."
Barbara Harris was a powerhouse when it came to serving, according to her ministers. Among the boards on which she was a member: the Landmarks Foundation, Urban League, Montgomery Area Council on Aging (MACOA) and Strategies To Elevate People (S.T.E.P.) Foundation.
In October 2004, she was featured in a Montgomery Advertiser "Senior Citizen Profile," enumerating her volunteer activities that then included collecting newspapers and magazines to be used as reading materials at local schools.
Her kitchen prowess for both sweet and savory foods fueled a zeal to acknowledge people through sustenance.
During summers she walked the edges of downtown passing out bottles of cold water to the unhoused and was faithful about placing sodas atop the garbage bin twice a week for Montgomery Sanitation Department workers. The delivery of Easter gifts to residents of John Knox Retirement and Nursing Facility was coordinated by Barbara as well as "The Myra Thompson Christmas Lunch" for anyone who could get a ride to the recently defunct Memorial Presbyterian Church. During Hurricanes Katrina and Harvey she organized, prepared and delivered meals to the displaced who made it to Montgomery. She started "Our Master's Meals" in Memorial's kitchen, providing repasts more than 50,000 times. She also created "Caregivers Day Out," respite for caretakers of adults, as well as an annual "Diaper Drive."
An ordained ruling elder and deacon at Memorial, the congregation she was a member longest, Barbara was installed as a Moderator of the Presbytery in 2008, overseeing a gathering of then 92-churches from Alabama and contiguous states. Barbara Harris' 50 years of varied mission work were recognized in 2019 at an event that included the surprise announcement a church fund had been named in her honor.
If service make for a shiny soul, a dazzling spirit has met her Master and this alum of Memorial's choir -- who fellow singers joked "survived six music directors" -- did so while singing praises and, once again, walking unassisted.
Having lived through ghastly American History, Barbara worked hard to elect President Barack Obama by reminding everybody she encountered in the weeks before Election Day to vote and, then 75, driving even older voters to the polls. Sen. Kamala Harris' election as vice president was a thrill, but Barbara remained miffed with President Joe Biden for failing to name Doug Jones U.S. Attorney General. Barbara was one of the black women who propelled Jones to his one term in the U.S. Senate, doing all the unofficial campaign work for him she had done for Obama. "Doug is a good man with tremendous integrity," she would say when seeing him on TV. She hoped Alabamians would elect him governor.
In her final years Barbara was profoundly moved by the monuments installed around Montgomery by the Equal Justice Initiative, insisting that grandchildren and all who visited her from out of town see the Legacy Museum. Viewing portraits in the Legacy Museum's "Reflection Room," Barbara's daughter discovered that her mom was good friends with or had squired around, as part of her job at Tuskegee University, at least 22 of the famous faces on display. An eight-time visitor to the museum documenting Montgomery's pivotal role in shameful American History, she did not fare as well at Freedom Monument Sculpture Park. After her third early, tearful exit from that EJI site she decided the evocative sculpture garden brought to the fore too many painful memories about how "Those were some terrible times."
While you won't find Barbara Harris' face at the Legacy Museum there is a photo of her at the Tuskegee Heritage Museum. In 1993, she retired from Tuskegee University as director of publications -- and, more informally, resident expert on protocol, Robert's Rules of Order stickler and academic regalia dresser for commencement speakers, including Bill (eww) Cosby and President Ronald Reagan.
In lieu of flowers please remember Barbara through contributions to Tuskegee University and by all means do something nice for your sanitation workers, with whom she was very popular. She developed a special bond with George, although co-workers from his tenure also liked her enough to yell "We love your mom!" from departing dump trucks when seeing her family members in the yard.
