In Memoriam: L. Craig Harris (1944-2024)

Leonard Craig Harris, a former member of the Lycoming Law Association, died on Wednesday, April 10, 2024. He served as president of the Lycoming Law Association in 2006. He was 79 years old.

A memorial court session took place on June 6, 2024.

Obituary:

Leonard Craig Harris died April 10, 2024, at his home in Loyalsock Township, at the age of 79, after a lengthy illness.

Known to friends and associates as Craig, he was born November 4, 1944, in Philadelphia, Pa., the son of the late Leonard C. Harris and Elizabeth (Craig) Harris. He grew up in Lock Haven with his two brothers, Paul, and Reid.

Craig was a devoted husband, father, and grandfather who richly savored those roles. Other interests included sports and music, especially singing in choirs and quartets including the Messiah Church men’s quartet and the Williamsport Civic Chorus.

Craig was also an avid outdoorsman and athlete who enjoyed golf, downhill and cross-country skiing, hiking, tennis, biking, and in his younger years, volunteering as an AYSO Soccer Referee. He and his wife Marty also shared a love of tennis, spending many hours on the courts together and with friends throughout their almost 49 years of marriage.

As a youth in Lock Haven, he was an active boy scout who displayed his musical talents by playing the bugle at Camp Kline along Pine Creek.

In addition to raising two sons, Craig and Marty hosted several foreign exchange students whom they affectionally referred to as their “other children.” Pairing their love of conversation, friendships, and cuisine, they launched a monthly dinner club in 1990 that continues. The couple also enjoyed traveling with friends to foreign locales including Germany and Brazil, and a Mediterranean cruise they took with friends.

Craig was an avid outdoorsman who especially enjoyed hiking in Pine Creek Valley, Loyalsock Trails, and in Sullivan County, Pa., where the family often spent summers in Eagles Mere.

A 1962 graduate of Lock Haven High School, he graduated from Allegheny College four years later with a BA in Economics. He received his JD degree in 1969 from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.

Craig retired in 2019, after 40 years as a partner in the Jersey Shore law firm of Carpenter Harris & Flayhart. He was previously an associate with Joseph Rider Attorney at Law (1973-79). Earlier pursuits included a three-year post as staff attorney for the Small Business Administration (1971-73). Service in the U.S. Army included a posting at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, D.C.

Professional and civic affiliations included membership and past presidency of Lycoming Law Association; the Jersey Shore Area Chamber of Commerce (1995-2019 and past president); Jersey Shore Industrial Development Corporation (JSIDC) 1985-2015; Jersey Shore Hospital Ethics Committee, 2004-2019 and Jersey Shore Hospital Board membership; Community Housing and Development Corporation (CHAD) of Jersey Shore. He enjoyed a 40-year membership in the Jersey Shore Lions Club and was a charter member of the West Branch Child Abuse Council.

Surviving, in addition to his wife of 48 years, Martha “Marty” (Brockway) Harris, are two sons, Andrew Craig (Elizabeth) Harris of Williamsport and Peter Brockway (Celia Alves Falcao) Harris also of Williamsport; three grandchildren, Juliet Rachel Harris, Mac Andrew Harris and Sophia Falcao Harris; and two brothers, Paul C. Harris of Alexandria, Va., and Reid V. Harris of Denver, Colo.

Memorial Service:

• Transcript from the special session of the Court of Common Pleas of Lycoming County to memorialize the life of Attorney Harris.
• Memorial Resolutions→

IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS OF LYCOMING COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

IN RE: RESOLUTIONS IN MEMORY OF L. CRAIG HARRIS, ESQUIRE

NO. 24-00003

REPORT AND RESOLUTIONS OF COMMITTEE

TO THE HONORABLE JUDGES OF THE ABOVE-NAMED COURT:

     On May 6, 2024, the Honorable Nancy L. Butts, President Judge of the 29th Judicial District of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, appointed the undersigned Committee to prepare a Report and Resolutions memorializing the life of L. Craig Harris for submission to the Court at a public ceremony on June 6, 2024. Accordingly, your Committee respectfully submits the
following Report and Resolutions:

1. L. Craig Harris was born on November 4, 1944, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Leonard C. Harris and Elizabeth Craig Harris. He died on April 10, 2024, at his home in Loyalsock Township, at the age of 79, after an extended illness.
2. Craig grew up in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, with his two younger twin brothers, Paul and Reid.
3. He was an active Boy Scout and first displayed his musical talents by playing the bugle at Camp Kline along Pine Creek.
4. Craig graduated in 1962 from Lock Haven High School and then attended Allegheny College receiving a B.A. degree in economics. In 1969 he received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Pittsburgh Law School.
5. Craig met his wife, Martha Brockway Harris, who survives him, in 1973 in the Lycoming County Courthouse where she worked with MHMR. They were married on May 17, 1975, and together shared almost 49 years of marriage.
6. They have two children, Andrew Craig Harris and Peter Brockway Harris, as well as three grandchildren, Juliet Rachel Harris, Mac Andrew Harris and Sophia Falcao Harris. Craig is also survived by his daughters-in-law, Elizabeth Harris and Celia Alves Falcao Harris, and brothers, Paul Harris and Reid Harris.
7. Craig served honorably in the United States Army including a posting at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. D.C.
8. Professionally, Craig was first employed as a staff attorney for the Small Business Administration. He then was an associate with Attorney Joseph Rider from 1973 through 1979. Thereafter, he joined with Attorney Clyde Carpenter, Jr. in Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania. Subsequent to the retirement of Clyde Carpenter, Jr., Craig and Attorney Martin Flayhart were in partnership beginning in 1984. Craig continued the practice of law there until he retired in 2019.
9. Craig was a member of many professional and civic organizations, having been a past president of the Lycoming Law Association and the Jersey Shore Area Chamber of Commerce, and a member of the Jersey Shore Hospital Board, the Community and Housing Development Corporation of Jersey Shore, the Jersey Shore Industrial Development Corporation, the West Branch Child Abuse Council and a 40 year member of the Jersey Shore Lions Club.
10. Craig was an avid outdoorsman, who especially enjoyed hiking in the Pine Creek Valley, on the Loyalsock Trails and in Sullivan County, where his family often spent time in the summers at Eagles Mere. Craig also loved biking and playing tennis and golf. 
11. Craig and Marty hosted several foreign exchange students at their home, and referred to them as “their other children”. They enjoyed traveling to other countries, often to meet in later years with these students who had stayed with them.
12. Having many varied interests, Craig was a volunteer AYSO soccer referee, as well as a member of his church choir and the Williamsport Civic Chorus.
13. Craig will be remembered for his welcoming nature, and his consistently positive view of life.

Your Committee recommends the adoption of the following Resolutions:

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that as a result of the passing of L. Craig Harris, the Bar of Lycoming County has lost a respected and conscientious member; the community at large has lost an energetic and valued participant; his friends and acquaintances have lost a fine gentleman; and his family has lost a devoted, kind and loving husband, father and grandfather;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we, the undersigned, joined by all of the members of the Lycoming County Bar, do hereby recognize and mourn the passing of L. Craig Harris;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that this Court and this Bar do hereby extend to L. Craig Harris’s widow, children and grandchildren our deep and heartfelt expression of sympathy;

AND BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that this Report and Resolutions be spread at length upon the records of the Court of Common Pleas of Lycoming County, and that copies be sent to the widow and children of L. Craig Harris, and published in the Lycoming Reporter.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,

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Martin A. Flayhart, Esquire, Chairperson

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Charles “Skip” Greevy, III, Esquire
________________________________
Benjamin Landon, Esquire

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Andrea Pulizzi, Esquire