With sadness, I post here about the loss of Phillihp Harmon, the first of our three children. He was given to us in our early 20’s. We could not imagine life without this wonderful person. Together, we embarked on an amazing journey. He gifted me three logo designs for Lamps-A-Glow, two of which are in use today. He lived intensely and joyously. His generosity and concern for others would make any parent proud.

Rest In Peace, my Son

-- Bernadette (click to send me a note)

It is hard to encapsulate Phil in one sitting. He was so much to so many people. My husband, father of our girls, son, brother, a cousin, a grandson, a friend, a travel companion, a trusted colleague, a mentor, a support system and the biggest cheerleader. Most of all, he was the glue that connected so many of us and kept us together. He truly never met a stranger because he cared tremendously about putting people at ease so that he has a chance to get to genuinely know them. He would meet you where you were and never held judgment, just encouragement. He built these friendships, and we built our marriage, on shared values. He didn't care how you looked, what you did, where you came from, so long as you shared values with him.

Most important to him were loyalty and respect, intentionality, curiosity, kindness and positivity. Once he loved you, he loved you deeply and forever. He would often bring up friends for 20 or 30 years ago, as though we had just seen them last week. I remember him mentioning a childhood friend me a few years ago and when I was confused about who he meant, he said, “Please, come on, you know, the one who lived in Pittsburgh. We talked about him all the time." We were all always in the forefront of his mind.

If he set his mind to something, he accomplished it. He started his first business when he was 17 and was successfully self-employed for 20 years. He gave me, and I know he gave others, the courage to believe that anyone can be an entrepreneur if they set their mind to it. He held the teachings of Dave Ramsey as a financial bible and he worked hard to achieve, and succeeded in achieving, financial freedom for our family. He embodied the Ramsey quote,

“Live like no one else, so you can live and give like no one else.”

He intended to continue spreading the message of financial literacy and I hope we can all carry that forward for him.

He wanted to see the world, and he saw a lot of it. With friends, he traveled throughout the US, Europe, Asia and South America, and together we traveled to Europe, Central America and Africa. He was passionate about seeing life through other people's eyes, wherever that might be and however it might look. He always said a perfect trip would be planned around where he went for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and the rest would fall into place. I have always dreamed of going to Antarctica and Phil planned to make that happen for our ten year anniversary because it was important to him to help others fulfill their dreams too.

Phil was kind, always. He forgave easily, because he understood we were all flawed and he loved people because of their flaws, not in spite of them. Greg, his brother, shared with me that in college he could always find Phil, making sure to take care of whoever needed help. There were so many times that he would run out to do an errand and take forever coming home because there was someone at the 7-11 that needed to jump start or neighbor that was stuck because of a downed tree. And Phil always stopped to help them.

He always tried to look at tough situations with positivity. After a hard day, he would switch quickly into goofing around with our girls, letting them climb on his back and pretend to be monkeys, or pumping up some techno music and having a dance party. He didn't wallow in sadness or anger. And I hope that we can all lean on his example as we mourn him together. His contagious smile and the twinkle in his eyes will forever be woven into my heart, and I hope the same for all of you. Let us not be sad to have lost him, but forever grateful that we got to know him. He was the absolute best and he will live on in the impact he had on so, so many people.

I love you, Phil. And I thank you for bringing all of us together one more time..

-- Megan

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