Resident of San Jose

Halene Harris, 85, formerly of Coalinga CA and San Jose CA, passed away peacefully Oct 2,2024. Daughter of Hal and Lulu Southard, she is survived by her brother Donald Southard, her husband Clifford W. Harris, her 2 children Cliff Harris and Regan Mornhinweg and 6 grandchildren.

Halene was raised in Coalinga CA and was a proud Horned Toad. She maintained friends and family from Coalinga throughout her life. She graduated from San Jose State and met and married her husband, who was her high-school sweetheart. They were married for 63 years. She raised her family in San Jose and had multiple life-long friendships from neighbors who were still dear to her to the end.

Her early years were spent teaching at Fremont Older Elementary School in Cupertino. After a break from teaching, she worked for over a decade at Leland High school in the PE Dept and became the Girls Varsity Tennis Coach. Here she was known for being a disciplinarian and master motivator. Hal’s coaching prowess led to 6 Division 1 CCS championships between 1983-1994. Hal also was known for team-work, laughter, fair-play, and a lifetime of mantras like “Get the ball in play, Keep the ball in play”. Hal was recognized by the Mayor of San Jose for her excellence in coaching. After Leland, Hal went back to teaching grade school at Booksin Elementary in San Jose and was recognized again for her excellence in teaching, motivation and life lessons. Teaching/coaching young people was in her blood and was her true calling.

Hal was also an excellent tennis player, playing in high school, and achieving a 5.0 rating as an adult at both Blossom Hill Tennis Club and Almaden Valley Athletic club (AVAC). Hal and Cliff were charter members at AVAC and maintained many life-long friends from their AVAC membership.

Hal dearly loved her multitude of friends, family, and especially her grandchildren. She devoted her life to caring for her grandchildren. All six grandkids got to know their Grandma well as she was an integral part of all of their lives.

Hal frequented Hawaii, and also loved the Harris Cabin at Shaver Lake. She spent many summers in both places and enjoyed boating, water-skiing, lake-life, snow-skiing, and hosting many of her friends at the Cabin. In Hawaii, she and Cliff felt at home as well, playing Tennis and watching many sunsets with their friends. Hal also was an amazing singer and toured and sung with the Zingers.

Her love of music and dancing led to much joy for her and those around her.

Hal led a full and meaningful life. She traveled and cruised all over the world. She visited dozens of countries and experienced culture, music, sports and scenes from the Rainforests of Brazil to the Opera Houses in Vienna and Australia.

Hal will be remembered for her incredible devotion to her family, friends, grandchildren, and her unwavering spirit of generosity with her time and care. She had so many life mantras hung up all over her home and taught much of those life affirmations to her kids and grandkids.

We all still use many of them today. Some of the sayings everyone will remember are: LFN (live for now), It’s better to be kind than right, and Don’t dream it, be it.

In typical Hal fashion, she asked for no funeral or sadness after her death. She didn’t want a celebration of life, flowers or donations. Hal always wanted people to remember her fondly, toast to her with champagne, and wanted her ashes to be spread at Shaver Lake to the sound of her favorite Andrea Bocelli music.