Prepared by Memorial Tributes of Salem, Illinois

and shown here with their permission

I am incredibly proud of my O'Kane heritage. I became aware of these fine people in my family very late in life. In the meantime, there was my step-dad, Willard W. Harris; hero, soldier, meat-cutter, friend, and father of the sweetest sister in the world. There is always something special about the man who loved your mother, who wiped your nose, spent the money he'd saved for other things on cap guns for your Christmas, gave you food and shelter, warmth and company, the one who had the idea of buying your own tenor saxophone so you wouldn't be embarrassed by the nickel plated loaner from school, the one who helped you buy your first car, who taught you to drive when you were 11 and gave you hell for doing it before you were 16 and old enough. The family I knew before I was introduced to the O'Kanes was blessed by the love and presence of this wonderful man. His memory will live forever in our grateful hearts.

Thanks to my  sister, Vickie Lewis, Pop is memorialized at the Littleton Colorado World War II Memorial located in Ketring Park. He has a permanent brick in the interior walkway of the memorial. The entry above his name, Mose Lewis, is Vickie's father-in-law.