Brian Keith Harris, 37, of Williamsburg, VA, passed away peacefully in his sleep with the love of his life by his side on Friday, September 12, 2025, after a brief battle with an illness.

Brian was born into the world’s biggest family on December 18, 1987, in Williamsburg, VA to Douglas Harris, Jr. and Michelle Metz. They moved around a lot in their younger years, so he was raised all over the place including Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee. He eventually settled down in the place he called home and was proud to be from. He especially spent a lot of time in the Chickahominy Shores whether he was living there or just there to be with family. No one was prouder to have roots in Lanexa, VA than Brian and he had the tattoo to prove it. He embraced the “Swamp Life” as he called it, again, proving it with another tattoo – well, half of one, at least. Tattoos were one of the ways he expressed himself – where he was from, his family, and so on. He was proud of all 14 of his, but always jealous that Stephanie had more.

Music was another way he expressed himself. He loved music of all kinds. He grew up mostly on country music and currently his favorite artist was Chris Young, but you could hear anything coming from his speakers from “Amarillo by Morning” to “Chicken Head”. As kids, Brian and the others would have competitions on who could guess songs the fastest just by the music and who could sing songs accurately without messing up. As a teenager, he would ride around with the windows down blasting anything and everything at unreasonable volumes whether it sounded good or not. Also, only a few know about his original song he wrote himself in the middle of the night just lying in the dark, SPAM. His love for music could only be closely matched with his love for movies. There’s no telling how many hours were spent watching, sometimes the same ones repeatedly… sometimes even just a particular part of a movie. You could tell which ones were the favorites by what was quoted in daily conversations. One of the most notorious in the family of course would be Varsity Blues because, seriously, what is up with Carrie Ann Bacon? She looks like… well… you know what she looks like.

Brian was always a big fan of sports whether he was playing them or watching them. He was a fan of the Atlanta Falcons, but an even bigger fan of the Atlanta Braves which is something that runs in the family (other than Kevin, of course.)

Brian followed in his uncle’s footsteps and fell in love with his career in sprinkler work. He was devastated when he could no longer work but proud of what he accomplished and enjoyed being able to work with his family.

It was never a secret that Brian was very popular with the girls, but no girl ever came close to Stephanie. They met almost 16 years ago while living in different states and spent their first few weeks of dating apart but eventually made their way back to Virginia to be together. It was not always easy, and they went through a lot of hard times, sometimes not even having a place to live – but the hard parts were worth it for them to be able to be together. Whether they were in their “young and partying” phase or their “we’re old, let’s stay home together” phase, they were always together and always building that love and that bond. As all couples, they had a lot of obstacles thrown their way, some stuff that even the strongest wouldn’t survive – but not surviving was never an option for them. Even though Brian is no longer physically here, their love is still unbreakable, and they will always be each other’s person. Brian loved Stephanie and I know he was so grateful to have her by his side for the last 16 years and she was still sitting right there as he took his last breath.

I don’t think it is overstepping to say that Brian would have been lost without Stephanie – but would be remiss to not mention how grateful and thankful he was to also have his Aunt Tammy in his corner every step of the way throughout his life. She has always been a rock for a lot of the family and while we know she has her “soft spots” and her “favorites”, Brian was her first baby boy, and she loved him and will always love him fiercely. He knew that no matter what, he could always count on Aunt Tammy to be there for him with anything from something as simple as getting him a drink to a ride to the hospital.

Brian had a lot of traits and quirks about him that most people recognized and made him “Brian”. A few things being the goofy way he wore his shoes, how his clothes were always way too big for his body, the funny way he ran from being “pigeon-toed” – we never knew if he was tripping himself up or if it was all the extra fabric hanging from him; the way he slept most of his life with one hand down his pants, or how he’d tell on himself during his deep sleep conversations he was never aware he was having, or the thuds in the middle of the night when he would go into a seizure and scare the crap out of everyone in the house… and also the love of a good selfie or even a fun opportunity to take a silly picture and make people laugh.

Brian obviously comes from a huge family and there have been really good times, really bad times, and every other type of time in between, but no matter what happened or how much time went by, he loved every single one of us unconditionally and he extended that love to his friends as well.

It is evident just from responses we have seen since Brian’s passing that he left a mark on a lot of people. Sometimes he liked to come off as a hard ass, but deep down, those who really knew him knew he had a big heart full of kindness and love. It was obvious in how he cared for animals, the way he would help people in any way that he could, and especially in how much he loved his friends and family. Brian always checked in on his people, and he always made sure to tell people he loved them. There are so many things about Brian that people will remember, and we hope that as you look back on your time spent with him and the memories you have, that you remember a man who, while he was not without flaws and never pretended to be, that he lived his life with so much love in his heart. He had to fight his way through very hard times at all different stages of his life, but one thing he never did was back down from that fight and he proved that all the way up to the end. His life was so unfairly cut short, and we are all devastated to move through a universe without him physically here, but we know we have another very special person looking down and watching over all of us.

Brian was preceded in death by his father, Douglas Harris Jr., grandparents, LeRoy Metz and Douglas Sr. & Naomi Harris, and uncle, Robert Mallory. He is survived by the love his life, Stephanie Loughery; son, Kaleb Harris and daughter, Kyla Otey; mother, Michelle Metz Brigance (Willie); brother, Kevin Harris (Angie), nephews Oden Harris, Robbie Kemp, Daemyan and Kristopher Smith; aunt, Tammy Mallory; grandmother, Nancy Metz; and a whole gaggle of cousins, second cousins, aunts, uncles, and friends.

We will have a celebration of Brian’s life on Sunday, September 28th at 2:00pm at the Quinton Community Center at 3041 New Kent Highway. We invite all who loved him to come celebrate and share their memories with Stephanie and the family. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Brian’s memorial site to help ease the costs of his services, and/or bring a dish to share to the celebration.

To sign up for the potluck (or donate to it): https://mealtrain.com/4gl9e5

To view/donate to the memorial page: https://everloved.com/life-of…

Cashapp: $AGoodman221

Venmo: @Amanda-Goodman-11

PayPal: alray221@aol.com

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