A story for the season of goodwill

This is a true story about the late Saul Harris of Station Street, Swaffham.

I have been window cleaning now for 30 years, and we cleaned for Colonel Saul Harris for well over 20 years.

He was a true gentleman, and one of the nicest people that you could meet.  He came over to this country in, I think, the 1950's from the USA and he was stationed at Lakenheath Air Base.  He was a Colonel, but he never wanted to be called Colonel, or even had Colonel on his letterhead.

He met an English girl and married her, and when he left the Air Force, he moved to Station Street, Swaffham, where he lived the rest of his life.

We met him and his wife in about 1980, but soon after she became ill and died of cancer.  He had also had a very serious operation on his throat.

He never said a bad word against anyone, even though things used to go missing from his garden sometimes.

Some days he would give us a can of coke, or even a crate of coke.  One day it was raining whilst we were cleaning his windows, so he went and fetched an umbrella and held it over Ruth until we had finished.

The days when he was at home, he would always go and stand in the middle of Station Street and stop the traffic so that we could get out.

One day there was a new charity shop opened in Station Street, Saul went in and found out if they wanted a window cleaner.  They said yes, but they could only pay, I think, £1.50.  There were quite a lot of windows, so he made up the rest of the money to us.

He once told us a story about how his father was offered a job at Coca-Cola, this was before they were very well known.  He went and looked around the factory, but turned the job down as he said he could see no future in the business.

If he was not at home he would be taking people shopping, picking up litter in the town and church yard. Before he died the Town Council named a small garden after Colonel Harris, by the bus stop.

One day when we called it was our 25^th wedding anniversary and we mentioned it to him.  He paid us for the window cleaning, and said wait a minute and went into the house and came out with £25.00.  He said that we caught him in a good mood today, as he said he could have given us 25p instead, as he did to his neighbour's son.  When he was 21, he received 21p, and this was his God son.  He had a good sense of humour!

His sister would from time to time ask him to visit her in the USA but he never would, and would say "I could not possibly leave as I have the window cleaner to see and pay".

One day his neighbour had been burgled in the night.  She lived on her own, as did Saul.  She phoned him early one morning to ask him to come round.  He went in his pyjamas, checked that she was OK and that the burglar had left.  They had a cup of tea and he left.  As he looked up Station Street the milkman was coming down the road.  He hid behind some bushes until the milkman passed, as he thought it best not to be seen leaving his neighbour's house at that time in the morning with his pyjamas on!

Later in life he became a bit forgetful, he would park his mustard coloured Nova in the town and walk home and forget where he had left it, and he would have lunch in the pub and fall asleep.

He sometimes went to church, but he did not really call himself a Christian, but he could see good in all faiths.

He is still missed by many.

Rod and Ruth Chapman

Eds note:

In the true sense of the word a Christian gentleman, though as Rod says, Saul did not think of himself as a Christian.  Do you know of anyone else who fits this mould?  Please share your story with us.

Meg knew him well as he regularly came into the Children's Society in Swaffham in the Market Place.  He always had a smile and a good word for everyone.  He spoke with a very husky voice - perhaps that was as a result of his earlier illness.  A true gentleman indeed.