Loy H. Harris

Loy Haskard Harris 89, died peacefully at home on May 25, 2026. He was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on July 23, 1936, the firstborn son of the late Loy E. Harris Jr. and Edith (Haskard) Harris, who gave him names from their respective families. He is survived by

Colleen Harris, Loy’s beloved wife of 45 years and the mother of his stepdaughter, Karen Harris, Loy’s ex-wife and the mother of his children, Sally McClellan, Loy’s sister, and her husband Jack, David Harris, Loy’s brother, and his wife Christine, Kelly Fanelli, Loy’s daughter and her companion, John, Loy James Harris, Loy’s son, and his wife Shelley, Elizabeth Bellande, Loy’s stepdaughter, and her husband Philippe, seven grandchildren and step-grandchildren and one great-grandchild with another due in July.

Johnny Cash’s “I’ve Been Everywhere” could have been the theme song of Loy’s life. His father’s profession as an exploration geologist required frequent family relocations. As a result, from the time of Loy’s birth until the family settled in Basin, Wyoming, when he was ten years old, Loy had lived in nineteen different towns in eight different states. The family then remained in Basin, but after graduating from Basin High School as valedictorian of his seventeen-member class, Loy resumed his roving ways. First, he went to the University of Wyoming, where he picked up another town, Laramie, along with a Bachelor of Science degree (with honor) in Engineering. He then embarked on a 35-year career with Exxon Corporation and its affiliates. While with Exxon, he lived and/or worked in an additional ten towns and cities in five new states in the US, together with two Native American Reservations. His Exxon career also took him overseas, where he added twelve towns in seven foreign countries (Libya, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria, the Yemen Arab Republic and Colombia). He ended his Exxon career as President and Chief Operating Officer of the company’s affiliate in Colombia, where he was responsible for what at the time was the world’s largest open-pit export coal mine, complete with its own railroad and port facilities.

In response to a perceived call from God, Loy retired from Exxon and went to Duke Divinity School, adding a new town and state, Durham, North Carolina, to his list. He was graduated from Duke with a Master of Divinity degree (magna cum laude), and subsequently was ordained an Elder in the United Methodist Church. He spent the next six years serving in pastoral ministry at Bethany UMC in Houston, Texas.

He then retired again, and moved with Colleen to Belchertown (another new town and state). He still wasn’t finished; while living in Belchertown, he worked as a pastor to small churches in two northern Massachusetts towns.

By the time of his death, he had lived and/or worked in a total of forty-six towns and cities, fifteen states, two Reservations, and seven foreign countries. Along the way, he was named a Distinguished Alumnus of the University of Wyoming and a Member of the University’s College of Engineering Hall of Fame.

He died confident and grateful because he trusted that by the grace of God his sins, though many, were forgiven, and the best of life was still to come.

A memorial service for Loy will be held on Saturday, June 13, 2026 at 11:30 am at Grace Episcopal Church, 14 Boltwood Ave., Amherst, MA.

In lieu of flowers, charitable contributions can be made to Grace Episcopal Church, 14 Boltwood Ave., Amherst, MA 01002, Clapp Memorial Library, 19 South Main Street, Belchertown, MA 01007, or to the charity of one’s choice.