Donald Harmon, 51: Craftsman, handyman and pet rescuer

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By Fran Jeffries

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

An accomplished craftsman, handyman and engineer, Donald Harmon also had a passion for people and animals.

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Family photo Donald Harmon

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"He never closed his door to any animal or person who needed help," said Trish Harmon, his wife of 29 years. "Every time we went to visit someone, he took a tool bag so he could fix something for them."

Donald Dewitt Harmon Jr. of Lawrenceville died Sunday after battling brain cancer. He was 51. A service is scheduled for 11 a.m. Sunday at Tom Wages Funeral Service, Snellville Chapel.

Mr. Harmon was born in Augusta and grew up in Brandon, Fla., where he met Patricia "Trish" Jackson when she was 9 and he was 11. When she turned 17, she worked at a home building site on the same crew as Mr. Harmon. She promised him smooches for snacks he bought for her off the lunch truck. Three months later, when he gave her a ride home, Mr. Harmon asked to cash in on the kisses. She grudgingly agreed. "I said, ‘OK, you can have one, but make it quick.' He kissed me and I saw the rest of my life with him."

In 1985, Mr. Harmon moved the family to Corpus Christi, Texas, for a factory job. "We struggled, but we were best friends, and the struggles made us closer," Mrs. Harmon said.

When the factory closed, Mr. Harmon came to Atlanta. He was hired at Rovema Global Packaging, which produces packaging equipment and items such as pouches for cereal and folding cartons. He worked there for 24 years.

"He showed himself to be a true leader," said Wolfgang Schoeler, a close friend and now retired vice president who hired Mr. Harmon. He was an excellent teacher, Mr. Schoeler added, and "was very dependable, especially in a crunch when things needed to be done yesterday."

A consummate handyman, Mr. Harmon moved the family to Lawrenceville to a house that he built into a dream home, Mrs. Harmon said.

But tragedy struck more than once. Their daughter Melissa, born in 1989, died of soft-tissue brain cancer in July 1995. Son Andrew, born in 1994, started having headaches at age 3. Diagnosed with a brain tumor the size of an orange, he died July 20, 1999, a week shy of his fifth birthday.

"Through it all, my husband and I never separated, we grew closer," Mrs. Harmon said. "I still got butterflies at the idea of him coming home from work. That's crazy after 29 years of marriage."

Then in November 2008, Mr. Harmon came home after a business trip and he didn't look well. He said it was his sinuses, but Mrs. Harmon had a gut feeling. "I thought, ‘He has a brain tumor,' " she said. "I had been through it twice before."

Doctors diagnosed a massive brain tumor. They didn't give him much chance for recovery. But nine weeks later, Mr. Harmon was back at work. "He never complained," Mrs. Harmon said. "He started each day saying, ‘Today is a great day because I woke up.' "

Neighbors heaped praises on Mr. Harmon. "He was there at the drop of a dime to help us," Margaret Gonzalez said. When a tree crashed into her home, Mr. Harmon showed up. "He was real sick and almost blind," she said, "and he came over without hesitation with a chainsaw to help remove the tree."

Mr. Harmon volunteered his time and his home to numerous animal rescue organizations, including the Gwinnett Humane Society. "He was an incredible resource whenever we needed him," said Chris D'Avanzo, the organization's president.

Survivors also include Mr. Harmon's son Donald Charles and daughter Mary Elizabeth, both of Lawrenceville; his mother, Lynda Rickerson Allen of Tampa; and sisters Beverly Harmon of Tampa and Cynthia Harmon of Albuquerque, N.M.