Elizabeth Short Harris

Mrs. Sara Elizabeth Short Harris, 89, resident of Columbia, died Tuesday, September 8, 2009 at Maury Regional Medical Center. Funeral services will be conducted at 11 a.m. Friday at Oakes & Nichols Funeral Home with Rev. Scott Aleridge and Rev. Melinda Britt officiating. Burial will be in Pleasant Mount Cemetery. The family will visit with friends Thursday from 5 - 7 p.m. at the funeral home. Memorials may be made to The Peoples Table, c/o First United Methodist Church, 222 West 7th St., Columbia, TN 38401. Notes of sympathy may be sent to the family at www.oakesandnichols.com. The Rutherford County native was the daughter of the late John Houston Short and Mary Neely Lewis Short. She was a graduate of Walter Hill High School Class of 1939 in Rutherford County. On June 14, 1952 she married John Joyce Harris who preceded her in death on April 16, 1981. She was co-owner and bookkeeper of John J. Harris, Surveyor from 1952 until the time of her husband's death, at which time she became sole owner of John J. Harris, Surveying Co. until 1995. She had previously been employed with Nashville Tent and Awning for several years. She loved collecting antiques and gardening. Mrs. Harris was a member of Powell's Chapel Baptist Church in Rutherford County and had most recently attended Columbia First Baptist Church. Survivors include her daughter, Melinda Harris (Jimmy) Houston of Columbia; son, David Houston Harris of Columbia; sister, Gladys Alsup of Lascassas; brother, Bruce (Mary Alice) Short of Smyrna; and two grandchildren, John Andrew Houston of Birmingham, Alabama and Margaret Elizabeth Houston of Columbia. She was preceded in death by one sister, Lucille Purcell and three brothers, Frank Short, Lewis Short and Leslie Short. Family and friends will serve as pallbearers. Honorary pallbearers will be former employees of John J. Harris Surveying.