Harry Weathersby Stamps

December 19, 1932 -- March 9, 2013

Long Beach

Harry Weathersby Stamps, ladies' man, foodie, natty dresser, and accomplished traveler, died on Saturday, March 9, 2013.

Harry was locally sourcing his food years before chefs in California starting using cilantro and arugula (both of which he hated). For his signature bacon and tomato sandwich, he procured 100% all white Bunny Bread from Georgia, Blue Plate mayonnaise from New Orleans, Sauer's black pepper from Virginia, home grown tomatoes from outside Oxford, and Tennessee's Benton bacon from his bacon-of-the-month subscription. As a point of pride, he purported to remember every meal he had eaten in his 80 years of life.

The women in his life were numerous. He particularly fancied smart women. He loved his mom Wilma Hartzog (deceased), who with the help of her sisters and cousins in New Hebron reared Harry after his father Walter's death when Harry was 12. He worshipped his older sister Lynn Stamps Garner (deceased), a character in her own right, and her daughter Lynda Lightsey of Hattiesburg. He married his main squeeze Ann Moore, a home economics teacher, almost 50 years ago, with whom they had two girls Amanda Lewis of Dallas, and Alison of Starkville. He taught them to fish, to select a quality hammer, to love nature, and to just be thankful. He took great pride in stocking their tool boxes. One of his regrets was not seeing his girl, Hillary Clinton, elected President.

He had a life-long love affair with deviled eggs, Lane cakes, boiled peanuts, Vienna [Vi-e-na] sausages on saltines, his homemade canned fig preserves, pork chops, turnip greens, and buttermilk served in martini glasses garnished with cornbread.

He excelled at growing camellias, rebuilding houses after hurricanes, rocking, eradicating mole crickets from his front yard, composting pine needles, living within his means, outsmarting squirrels, never losing a game of competitive sickness, and reading any history book he could get his hands on. He loved to use his oversized "old man" remote control, which thankfully survived Hurricane Katrina, to flip between watching The Barefoot Contessa and anything on The History Channel. He took extreme pride in his two grandchildren Harper Lewis (8) and William Stamps Lewis (6) of Dallas for whom he would crow like a rooster on their phone calls. As a former government and sociology professor for Gulf Coast Community College, Harry was thoroughly interested in politics and religion and enjoyed watching politicians act like preachers and preachers act like politicians. He was fond of saying a phrase he coined "I am not running for political office or trying to get married" when he was "speaking the truth." He also took pride in his service during the Korean conflict, serving the rank of corporal--just like Napolean, as he would say.

Read more here: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/sunherald/obituary.aspx?n=harry-stamps&pid=163538353&fhid=4025#storylink=cpy

Thanks

Probably shortened his life.

Less stress = longer life. Dog man to the end, I bet.

I actually ran into someone in New York who believed the reason the sun set later in California was because the slackers there set their clocks later.

A bit of trivia: There was a time when local time literally was local time. The local clock tower was set according to a sun dial so towns were a few minutes different. It wasn't until the railroads and their timetables that there was a need to come up with a way of standardizing entire segments of the country to a common time.

So the big question is: Did this guy have a sun dial?

RIP Mr. Stamps!

Best obituary I've ever read, I think. Really conveys the flavor of the man.

...I'm not sure I would have enjoyed living next door to this guy.

Great Obit.
I would like to retain the author to do mine.

I agree about Daylight Saving Time.

That's the way it should be...

We southerners get knocked for the way our neighbors vote, but make no mistake that there are many Harry Stamps to even out the score. What Harry Stamps had is what we call good old-fashioned horse sense.

My mom was very much like him; she was cut from a unique mold. Her sense of humor & hilarious story-telling made her a joy to be around. When she passed away in November, the church was full to capacity for her funeral despite the fact that most of her good friends had gone years before her time. I was honored to deliver the family's eulogy honoring her life & I was extremely touched by the many comments I had gotten afterwards. I made the eulogy as comical as Mom would have wanted it. She lived to laugh & to make others laugh, too.

Mr. Stamps, you sound like our kind of people. This article was a joy to read.

O.M.G. That's priceless!