Nearly seventy years ago there emigrated to Canada, with his wife, Mr Fred J Harris, and today, at the age of 88, Mr Harris is ‘still going strong’, and is a keen reader of the Bideford Gazette.

He says he finds something interesting in each issue to remind him of his younger days and the old locality. 

Mr Harris must have outlived most of his contemporaries but there are relatives living in Bideford and Buckland Brewer still.
He is the last surviving son of the late Mr and Mrs J Harris, of Buckland Brewer, and his late wife was Miss Fisher, also of that parish.
Mrs Harris died in 1942. They lived at Stratford, Ontario, Canada, and Mr Harris is staying on there although he has had two offers to go and stay with relatives, but he does not want to leave unless absolutely necessary, his home for over 40 years.
He is an uncle of Mrs Bertha Bright, of Cintra Terrace, Orchard Hill, Bideford, and great uncle of Mr P C Bright, of Bridgeland Street, Bideford.
In a recent letter to his niece, Mrs Bright, Mr Harris mentioned that his birthday was featured in a greetings published with a photo in his local newspaper and added how, with kindly assistance, he manages at home and reveals his cheerful facing of the future, one day at a time, thankful for the blessings that have been shown to him.
The newspaper feature pays a graceful tribute to Mr Fred J Harris as a ‘revered resident of Stratford’. It adds that Mr Harris only gave up gardening at the end of last season because he felt the work a bit too strenuous for him.
Gazette article dated 5 August 1947