Celebrating Harrison Ferris's Life

Dr. Harrison "Harry" Edwin Ferris, age 74, of Washington, DC died November 6th, 2023 peacefully in the company of his family after years of declining health. Harry was a loving father, local dentist, devout member of All Saints Church, and member of the Friendship Heights chapter of Rotary for nearly 20 years.

 

Anyone who encountered Harry would learn from him that the truth gets in the way of a good story and that life was only worth living if there was some sort of wonderful yarn to spin, some tall tale to tell, some way to make normal life a little longer, bigger, brighter, better, elaborate, and more fun.  Here is his life as a (slightly) Big Fish Tale, told with joy and laughter as he would have wanted it:

 

The family lore says that Harry was almost born in Hawaii in 1948 to Harry Ferris and Elise (Olivier) Ferris, but his mother refused to give birth on the naval base there. Regrettably, Harry was instead born in frigid Corning, New York just at the beginning of winter; thus ending his career as a professional surfer. 

 

The family moved to Hyattsville, MD, in the 1950s where his younger brother Charles Ferris was born, which was alternately the best or the worst day in Harry’s young life, depending on his mood. In kindergarten, his parents were told that he was [a pejorative term we won’t repeat, an unteachable idiot] who was failing kindergarten because he was left handed and had undiagnosed poor vision; Harry sent his University Honors to this teacher many years later.

 

His mother once asked him if she could do anything for him and he replied "hold my foot." She held it for a while before she asked what he was doing and he replied that he “was testing her to see how long she would hold his foot”. As a child, this propensity to test boundaries coupled with a pugnacity and assurance that he was always in the right led him into more than his fair share of fist fights in his neighborhood. His parents, fearing that he would 'turn out badly' sent him to Landon School for Boys. There, or so we have been told, he managed to become the five-time feather-weight boxing champion of PG county, disassemble and reassemble a car in his headmaster’s office, and distill apple brandy which he sold to the faculty.  After dislocating his shoulder “over a dozen” times we know that he quit football his senior year, however when the headmaster accused him of lacking school spirit, and threatened to withhold a recommendation letter for college, he countered by becoming a cheerleader. 

 

Somehow, despite these possibly apocryphal antics, Harry managed to graduate near the top of his class in 1967, matriculating to the University of Pennsylvania. There he spent weekends with his maternal grandfather, Dr Charles P Olivier, for whom he had a lifelong admiration.  An avid and fast reader at UPenn he developed his intense love for Science Fiction. 

 

It’s unclear exactly when Harry became a master chess player and beat Bobby Fisher during a chess exhibition, nor do we know when he joined the merchant marines for a summer, when he dated a European princess, when he sparred with Joe Frazier, or when he drove a friend from city to city on his motorcycle for his friend to play back up bass for Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show.  We can, however, confirm that he graduated from University of Pennsylvania with a degree in English Literature in 1971. 

 

Harry met Margaret "Peggy" (Murdock) Ferris in the summer of ‘69, and shortly thereafter she chose to leave her very sensible math major at Randolph Macon to move to the wilds of Philadelphia to become a hippy art student and join him in myriad fun adventures of varying legality. To everyone and no one's surprise, they were married in 1972.

 

Having drawn a very low draft number he enlisted instead, in order to choose his future, and so he became a veterinary technician in the Army. During his service he definitely studied vaccines and communicable diseases in Macaques, however the story continues that they discovered that Harry was immune to Hepatitis after a chimpanzee bite; and subsequently his blood was used to create the first vaccine for Hepatitis. Also unbeknownst to his wife he may or may not have gone on a secret veterinary and vaccine related emergency mission to Vietnam for a weekend.  

 

Upon discharge from the Army, Harry wanted to become a professional veterinarian but was unable to obtain admission anywhere Peggy was willing to move; the lilting southern accents that would have blessed his daughters growing up in Alabama were never to be. Instead, he followed in his familial footsteps and went to Georgetown Dental School to become the third generation of dentist/oral surgeon in his family, keeping the family in Washington, DC. 

 

His first daughter, Marianna Elise was born in 1978 and was immediately known far and wide as the most beautiful and talented child that had ever existed. His second daughter, Margaret Sarah Helen was born in 1982 and became his direct competition as the smartest person in any room that they entered. Although they failed to become a grammy award winning singer and Nobel prize winner respectively (despite what you may have heard), he remained extremely proud of them, his son-in-laws Tim & Martin, and his beloved grandchildren William (Liam) Brennan and Morgan Kemper, who continue to be the most smart, beautiful, and talented grandchildren that ever existed - maybe even surpassing their mothers.

 

Harry was a proud Rotarian and part of the push by Rotary International to eliminate polio.  The story claims that one of his contributions was working his family connections to ensure that the vaccine was accepted throughout central and south America, where his cousins simultaneously held high diplomatic positions in several governments.  For certain we know that he helped with fundraising for the effort in Washington, DC and for the rest of his life he spoke frequently and vehemently about the importance of vaccinations (and their appropriate refrigeration).

 

Harry had a private dental practice in the Friendship Heights neighborhood of DC from 1980 until his retirement in 2014. He was an active member of All Saints Church, where over the years he served on the vestry several times, volunteered his time and home to the youth ministry, and for 25 years volunteered for Christmas in April service programs.  He was an avid Washington Football fan until Snyder bought them, then transferred his loyalty to the Nats, who managed to win more games anyway - Go Nats! In his final years he danced at Glen Echo park as often as possible, attended several prayer groups with great friends, was a prolific painter - with his work featured in dozens of art galleries, or so we’ve been told, and spoke to his children on the phone every single day.  

 

This lovable rogue, with his fabulist’s yarns, intelligence, love of life, family, and community, and with his willingness to jump in and participate in any number of adventures will be sorely missed.  We love you dad.