The Brother Martin community mourns the loss of Brother Virgil Harris ’45 SA who passed away on Monday, December 26, 2016 at the age of 88. Graduating magna cum laude from Loyola University in New Orleans in 1944 with a B.S. in Secondary Education and a major in English, he went on to earn a master’s degree from LSU in Music Education. An accomplished musician, he played the flute, the clarinet, and the alto sax. For nine years he was a faculty member at Catholic High School in Baton Rouge where he served as the band director and a teacher of English and Latin. Later, he joined the faculty at Cor Jesu in Gentilly in 1967 before the school had merged with his alma mater (St. Aloysius) in 1969 becoming Brother Martin High School. He also was the band director for the Cor Jesu Kingsmen Marching Band as well as for the Brother Martin Crusader Band. Then for 17 years he worked with the poor in New Orleans as development director for Hope House while teaching private and small group lessons at Brother Martin High School. Prior to Hurricane Katrina, Brother Virgil developed a music program at Bishop Perry Middle School and worked as an assistant music teacher at St. Stanislaus in Bay St. Louis. After Hurricane Katrina in 2005 he helped with the band program at McGill-Toolen High School in Mobile, Alabama until his failing health forced him to retire.
Brother Virgil is survived by his brother George Harris and his wife, his sister Marie Louise Harris, two nieces and a nephew.
His final resting place will be at the Brothers of the Sacred Heart Cemetery in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.
