Powers, Harris Frederick "Buck"

Harris Frederick Powers

"Buck"

Date of birth: 16 Mar 1924
Date of death: 17 Aug 2016

Burial Information

Section 10 (Click Here for Section Map)
Cemetery: Odd Fellows Cemetery
Plot: 0117-06
Status: Occupied

Veteran Information

Branch: US ARMY AIR CORP
Rank: CAPT
War/Campaign: WORLD WAR II
Military Notes: Harris "Buck" Powers, Sr. served in the Army Air Corps during WWII. He completed flight training at the Greenwood Army Airbase, and while stationed there met his wife Patricia who lived in Greenwood. According to his son, Harris, Jr., he was scheduled to transition into B-29s to fly in the Pacific before the war mercifully ended and he was spared that adventure.

Notes

Obituary
Harris F. "Buck" Powers

Harris F. "Buck" Powers of Greenwood, entrepreneur and family man, died peacefully at home on August 17, 2016. Buck was born in Bennettsville, South Carolina, on March 16, 1924, to Lucy Vernon Powers and Charles Wesley Powers.

He attended Bennettsville public schools and graduated from Bennettsville High School in 1941. After graduation, he worked for his uncles mechanical contracting business installing heating and piping systems in the construction of the U.S. Marine Corps Base at New River, North Carolina, until he enlisted as a cadet in the U.S. Army Air Corps. He completed flight training and was commissioned as a lieutenant and pilot. While stationed at Greenwood Army Airbase in 1944, Buck met Patricia Tish Pitchford. They were married in Bennettsville on August 4, 1945, and shared the next 69 years together.

Upon his discharge from the Air Corps in 1946, Buck and Tish made Greenwood their lifelong home. In 1946, he opened his first business, Harris F. Powers Plumbing and Heating. With the advent of air conditioning in the 1950s, Buck became an early air conditioning contractor. He changed the name of his business to Air Conditioning Sales, which he owned and operated until 1990, when he closed it to pursue other business interests. In the early 1960s, Buck began to expand his mechanical business, under the name of ACS Construction Company, into general contracting of building renovations for the U.S. General Services Administration. He also returned to flying airplanes during this time to facilitate his business and continued to fly into his seventies. Two challenging building renovations performed by ACS during this time of which he was particularly proud were the historic U.S. Customs Houses in Charleston, South Carolina, and Savannah, Georgia. In the late 1960s, Buck again expanded the business of ACS into general building construction for GSA. He incorporated ACS Construction in 1972 and further expanded the scope of business into general construction of military facilities for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Navy. From the 1970s into the 1990s ACS completed many large military construction projects throughout the Southeast, and in 1986 ACS was recognized by the U.S. Small Business Administration as contractor of the year for its Southeast Region.

In addition to government construction contracting, Buck was instrumental in the commercial development of Park Avenue in Greenwood by designing and building Walnut Park shopping center. He also served on the Advisory Board of Directors of the Greenwood Deposit Guaranty National Bank. Buck attended the First United Methodist Church of Greenwood with Tish since moving to Greenwood in 1946. For many years, he and Tish also attended the Enon United Methodist Church in Carroll County near Spring Lake, where they built a house in 1970 during the early development of the lake for recreational purposes. This property was the site of numerous holiday celebrations and gatherings of family and friends. He enjoyed traveling with his wife in their earlier years, and they traveled extensively in Europe and the Caribbean. Buck had a lifelong interest in hunting, fishing and the outdoors. He particularly enjoyed duck hunting in his younger years, and he was an original member of Backwater Brake Timber Company hunting club. Additionally, he was interested in farming and conservation. With his wife, he owned and developed Abiaca Wildlife Habitat, a farm and recreational property at Black Hawk, Mississippi, where they enjoyed nature and fishing together. He also enjoyed hosting festive dove hunts and dinners for family and friends there for several years.

Buck generously supported Ole Miss football for many years and regularly attended games with his dear departed friends, Charlie Lee, Will Webb and Gene Neill. In addition to his parents, Buck was preceded in death by his wife, Tish; his sister Margaret P. Brooks; and his brother Charles Vernon Powers. He is survived by his sister Lucy P. Yates of Wake Forest, North Carolina; and sons Harris F. Powers, Jr., Charles M. Powers and John H. Powers of Greenwood and Robert E. Powers of Little Rock, Arkansas; granddaughters Rivers K. Powers of Memphis, Ann P. Haymans of Oxford, Mississippi, Patricia P. Rutland of Birmingham, Alabama, Nancy P. Johnson of Greenwood and Shelby P. Powers and Charlotte E. Powers of Little Rock; grandsons, Harris F. Powers, III and John H. Powers, Jr. of Greenwood, Charles K. Powers of Memphis, Charles P. Powers of Savannah, Georgia, and Edward A. Powers of Little Rock; and 14 great-grandchildren.

Burial will be in Odd Fellows Cemetery at Lexington, Mississippi, after a graveside service at 3 p.m. Sunday, August 21. Pallbearers will be his grandsons, and grandsons-in-law George S. Haymans, IV, Justin R. Rutland, and Benjamin C. Johnson. Southern Funeral Home of Lexington is assisting. Memorials may be made to First Methodist Church of Greenwood, the Nature Conservancy, or other charity of choice.

Southern Funeral Home
Lexington, MS

Veteran Information
Buck was a veteran of WWII and served in the Army Air Corps. He completed his flight training at Greenwood Army Airbase, and while stationed there, met his wife, Patricia Pitchford, who lived in Greenwood. He was scheduled to transition into B-29's to fly in the Pacific but the war ended before he was assigned to this mission. Buck achieved the rank of Captain and was discharged at the end of the war.