Audrie Grady Harrison

Audrie Grady Harrison

Born: July 9, 1926

Birth Place: Payson, Gila, Arizona

Death: October 30, 2010

This is my Grandpa. I remember him a strong and quiet man. When looking at his eyes you always knew he was thinking of something insightful. He owned many small businesses: Electrical Supply Company to being a Commercial Landlord. He had a passion for wood working, flying, fishing, inventing, Indian pottery and shooting. He designed and built a operational multi-head drill press and a Fuel Tank for small aircraft.

He was married to my Grandma Judith Ann Skabelund and later sealed in the Mesa, AZ LDS Temple.

Payson's First Fire Chief was Audrie Grady Harrison in 1946

Audrie Harrison with Airplane (Aeronca Sedan) (7AC)

Photos:

The Original Mountain Man (Audrie Harrison)

1950 Audrie Harrison Standing on left with Walter Holder on Horse. Audrie said the jug contained real moonshine.

Phoenix Rodeo Parade of 1950. Walter Holder on left and Audrie Harrison on right.

1965 Audrie Harrison with Fish in Mexico (Family Vacation Spot) p.s. They owned a trailer in mexico.

1964 Audrie Harrison with son Roger Harrison Fishing in Mexico

1964 Dick Flack aka Audries Best Friend. Mexico

1930's Census Record: Row 42

1940's Census Record:

 

US Navy Records: Draft Card

NAME:	Audrie Grady Harrison
RACE:	White
AGE:	20
RELATIONSHIP TO DRAFTEE:	Self
BIRTH DATE:	9 Jul 1926
BIRTH PLACE:	Payson, Arizona, USA
RESIDENCE PLACE:	Payson, Gila, Arizona, USA
REGISTRATION DATE:	1946
EMPLOYER:	Payson
WEIGHT:	205
COMPLEXION:	Light
EYE COLOR:	Gray
HAIR COLOR:	Brown
HEIGHT:	6 2
NEXT OF KIN:	H Grady Harrison
HOUSEHOLD MEMBERS:	6657753

 

 

NAME:	Audrie Grady Harrison
SHIP, STATION OR ACTIVITY:	LCI(L) 1063
SHIP NUMBER OR DESIGNATION:	LCIL-1063
MUSTER DATE:	1 Dec 1944

 

Ship He Served On:

LCI(L)-1063

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Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons
  
Precedence of awards is from left to right
American Campaign Medal - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal - World War II Victory Medal

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LCI-351 Class Landing Craft Infantry (Large): Laid down, (date and place unknown); Launched, (date unknown); Commissioned USS LCI(L)-1063, 11 May 1944; During World War II LCI(L)-1063 was assign to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater. Decommissioned, (date unknown); Struck from the Naval Register, (date unknown); Transferred to the Maritime Commission, 2 October 1947; Final Disposition, fate unknown.

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Specifications: Displacement 246 t.(light), 264 t. (landing), 419 t.(loaded); Length 158' 5 1/2"; Beam 23' 3"; Draft, Light 3'1½" mean, Landing, 2' 8" forward, 4' 10"aft, Loaded, 5' 4" forward 5' 11" aft; Speed 16 kts (max.), 14 kts maximum continuous; Complement 4 officers, 24 enlistedTroop Capacity, 6 Officers, 182 Enlisted; Cargo Capacity, 75 tons, Armor, 2" plastic splinter protection on gun turrets, conning tower and pilot house; Endurance 4,000 miles at 12 kts, loaded, 500 miles at 15 kts; and 110 tons of fuel
LCI(L) Armament five single 20mm guns, one bow mounted, one each port and starboard forward of wheelhouse, one each port and starboard aft of wheelhouse, on some LCIs two .50 cal machine guns were added; Fuel Capacity, 130 tons, lube oil 200 gal.; Propulsion, two sets of 4 GM diesels, 4 per shaft, BHP 1,600, twin variable pitch propellers.

 

The Ship Looks Something like This:

 

Arizona Independent Republic May 20, 1944

Payson Roundup March 14, 1974

Electrical Work Ad

Phoenix Arizona Republic April 13, 1955

Phoenix Arizona Republic February 15, 1955

Arizona Republic June 22, 1966

Phoenix Arizona Republic October 10, 1955

Payson Roundup March 14, 1974

Audrie Harrison is Bishop of the Payson Ward.

Obituary for Audrie Grady Harrison

Source: http://www.paysonroundup.com/obituaries/2010/nov/02/audrie-harrison/

Artifacts

Belt Buckle

Payson Fire Chief

His Favorite Neck Tie

His Pocket Knife

Audrie Grady Harrison

July 9, 1926 - October 30, 2010

On a beautiful warm Friday on July 9, 1926 at 8:48 a.m., Audrie Grady Harrison came into this world as the first-born child of H. Grady Harrison and Nelly Evelyn Blade Harrison.
Mr. Harrison was born and raised in Payson. After graduating high school he enlisted in the U.S Navy where he became a motor machinist. Soon, at the height of World War II, Mr. Harrison was assigned to an LCI in the South Pacific headed for Guam and Sipan.

Later Mr. Harrison had a desire to fly, and accomplished this goal while on the G.I Bill.

Over the next two years he spent his time working at the airport in Cottonwood for a man named Guy Turner. While working in Cottonwood, he rebuilt small aircraft and flew charter planes. He flew the day’s film into Phoenix from Monument Valley and other points where movies were being made. He often liked to tell the story of how he was a gandy dancer (railroad handcart operator) in the movie “She Wore a Yellow Ribbon.”For years, in the winter he grew long hair and a beard; the people of the Rim Country knew when spring had come when Mr. Harrison got into his airplane and flew to Phoenix for his spring haircut.

Coming back to Payson, Mr. Harrison ran the Chevron gas station at the corner of Main and McLane. Mr. Harrison was Payson’s first fire chief and when a fire broke out three shots were fired from a gun to alert the volunteer firefighters.
On Oct. 4, 1955 he married Judith A. Skabelund and four sons were born over the next eight years.
In 1967, Mr. Harrison started Harrison Electric, having done electric work with his father who had Payson’s first light and power company for years. The wiring of a house was the “old knob and tube” method.

For 22 years Mr. Harrison served the Town of Payson, first on the airport board then the planning and zoning commission.

He joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1956 and in 1971 was called to serve as bishop of the Payson Ward. He played a large role in getting the land and overseeing the building of the first three phases of the now existing building. After being released as bishop he served eight years on the High Counsel of the Camp Verde Stake.

Mr. Harrison had a great love of the outdoors, hunting and fishing; he especially loved deep-sea fishing. Up until the very end he had the dream of “one more fishing trip.” He was active in the Bird Busters Trap and Skeet Club.

He loved the American Indian culture. Taking classes through the college he learned the technique of ancient pottery making. He later taught classes with elderhostel teaching older people the art as well.
He passed away Oct. 30, 2010 in Payson, the town that he loved so much.

He was preceded in death by his parents and younger brother, William L. Harrison.

He is survived by his wife of 55 years, Judith; and four sons, Roger (Ennie) of Riverdale Calif., Ted (Nancy) of Grapevine, Texas, Richard (Wendy) of North Garden, Va. and Greg (Diana) of Chula Vista, Calif., along with 12 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m., Saturday, Nov. 6 at the Payson L.D.S. Stake Building, 913 S. Ponderosa.

Life Sketch of Audrie Grady Harrison

Source: http://www.paysonroundup.com/news/2007/oct/04/audrie_harrison_a/

Audrie Harrison is a soft-spoken, modest man. He has also had quite an adventurous life.

#At 12 he started driving trucks for his father, Grady Harrison, who had the state's first statewide freight franchise in 1918.

Teresa McQuerrey/Roundup

Audrie Harrison has wide-ranging interests: from engineering, flying, archaeology, geology and more. He took up pottery a number of years ago, by enrolling in a class, at what was then Eastern Arizona College in Payson. He began crafting incredible replicas of Native American pottery using "wild" clay and traditional coloring agents and eventually began teaching the class.

#His first experience behind the wheel came out of necessity. He was a "swamper" for the company, loading and unloading the freight. His father sent him with a driver to bring 20 tons of mining equipment up to the Summit Mine.

#"The driver was stopping every 30 minutes to check the load. Then he said he was going to stop and take a nap. He smelled of liquor. So I watched him and when he went to ‘check' the load, he was actually taking a swig from a whiskey bottle. When he fell asleep, I thought about it, then loaded him in the truck and got back on the road. It was a 16-hour trip between Payson and Phoenix. He didn't wake up until we were in town and then he made me let him out before we reached the office. When I reached the office, Dad wanted to know where the driver was. I told him and he was mad. He asked how I had managed and I told him I'd done all right. So, he had me take the load on out to the Summit Mine."

#Harrison continued his trucking career with his father's business, running loads to and from Owens Bros. Lumber and mining operations around the area.

#Grady Harrison brought electricity to Payson, starting with a small generator at his home, where they had the first electric refrigerator. Soon neighbors and businesses wanted electricity, too, and bigger generators were brought in.

#Audrie had another job when his father started supplying electricity on a large scale. He had to work on the generators. Residential customers were charged $5 a month for power.

#After the war, Northern Arizona Light & Power bought Harrison's electric operation, and that company later became part of the foundation of APS.

#Harrison's parents were married in California. He had an uncle in Globe and he told them to come to Arizona. They made the journey in 1916.

#"They lived in a cabin at Roosevelt and worked for my uncle, Paul Harrison, who had the mail contract and a homemade boat, which he used to take it from Globe to the other shore. My dad hauled the mail up here for him."

#The family moved to Payson in 1918.

#A friend of Grady's would fly into town, landing where Aero Drive is now. That friend was doing some work on his plane and gave Audrie an old propeller, which his father put on his tricycle. He said he was pretty little, but couldn't remember exactly how old he was. That old propeller on his trike gave birth to Audrie's love of flying ... a love that remains with him to this day, though his flying is limited to whenever he can talk somebody into letting him fly their plane. He still has that old propeller, too, which saw the business end of flying when Audrie rebuilt his first plane. He still has it.

#He served in the Navy between 1944 and 1946 as a motor machinist mate in engineering, though he started as a seaman fireman. He was stationed in the Pacific during the last eight months of the war.

#When Audrie came home after the war, he learned to fly. The airstrip was where Aero Drive is; it was 50 feet wide and 1,800 feet long.

#"I soloed in seven hours," he said.

#His father sold the freight business in 1948 or 1947, retired and did a lot of fishing. Roosevelt Lake, where Grady first lived in Arizona, was one of his favorite spots.

#Audrie went to work in Cottonwood, working on aircraft. He also worked in the air ferry business, flying military planes from Houston, Texas.

#"I've flew every military plane they had, except the P38," he said.

#Over the years, he has had about a half-dozen planes and rebuilt more than he can count.

#"By the time I was finished, they were all in better shape than they were originally."

#At one time, he had the only plane in Payson and was called on more than once to get people to emergency medical care.

#One call he remembers came about 1 a.m. -- there was a very sick baby that had to be flown to the hospital in Cottonwood.

#"We had no lights, so had a couple of cars get on both ends of the air strip. When I saw that baby, I didn't think it would make it."

#The flight was normally a 45-minute trip; he made it in 32 minutes. The baby survived.

#In addition to ferrying planes and serving as the community's air ambulance, Audrie worked in airplane repair, became a general contractor, did electrical work and tiling.

#He also had a knack with drafting and drawing blueprints. He essentially taught himself drafting, architecture and structural engineering in high school. There was no one qualified to teach the subjects, so the principal arranged to get him the books he needed and the instructor's text, so he would have the correct answers.

#After a couple of heart attacks, he could not do much, so he decided to take a course on Indian pottery at Eastern Arizona College's Payson center.

#When his father's freight business was in operation, clay would come off the tires and he liked to make stuff with it.

#His first projects were a clay duck and a turkey pot (a small vessel fashioned with a turkey head and tail feathers).

#"I polished it and fired it and it was beautiful," he said.

#Since he knew where there was raw clay, he collected it, cleaned it and then used natural coloring minerals. The result is a collection of really extraordinary replicas of Native American pottery.

#"I was a bit of a geologist and archaeologist and I really enjoyed that class. We had to make one pot to complete it, but by the fourth class, I had seven to eight pieces to be fired and people in the class wanted to buy my pots. The next year, I was asked to teach the class."

#As much as he enjoyed doing pottery, he said he hasn't worked with it for four or five years.

#Instead, he has been making "sucker trees" -- when you see the wooden displays with fancy suckers in gift and gourmet candy shops, chances are Audrie Harrison made it. He started designing and building the trees in the mid-1980s and now they are all over the world. They can be found in Australia and Russia.