Advocate for South Cape sees dream fulfilled with new Shawnee Park Center

When Robert Harris was diagnosed with a potentially fatal form of cancer a few years back, he almost gave up everything -- his seat on the city parks board, his job driving a school bus and even his volunteer work for the community gardens that he helped create.

But the doctor offered him this admonition: "It's good for the mind to stay busy."

Harris has never forgotten that, keeping both mind and body busy by throwing himself that much harder at the things he loves, almost all of which center on his greatest passion of all: serving as an advocate for the residents of Cape Girardeau's south side.

"Sometimes you have to bloom where you're planted," Harris said Tuesday, taking a break from raking at the community garden off South Fountain Street. "This is what I do, and I'm proud of that fact. We all have a niche in life, and when you're lucky enough to find yours, you build on it."

Harris saw one of his biggest dreams fulfilled Monday when the city opened the doors of the new $2 million Shawnee Park Center, a south-side community center.

As a member of the city's Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, Harris worked on the campaign to convince voters to approve the parks sales tax in 2007, which paid for the 14,500-square-foot center, and he later met with South Cape residents over three years to gather input.

"Lots of people talk the talk, but Robert walks the walk. Robert runs," said Troy Vaughn, a friend of Harris who also serves on the parks board. Vaughn was also on the subcommittee that studied the need for a south-side community center and later met with the residents to talk about what the center should include.

Vaughn said residents were skeptical at first but added that having Harris there definitely helped. Vaughn said he doesn't know if that's because Harris is black like many of the south-side residents or that he lives there or if it is simply Harris' demeanor.

"He's got this big bear-claw of a hand, but he's got this timid voice," Vaughn said. "But I think that just symbolizes who he is. He has this inner strength within him. And the sad thing is, from my perception, nobody in South Cape has an idea of what he's done for that area."

Danny Essner, chairman of the parks board, agrees. He said Shawnee Park Center is really Harris' dream and, to a large extent, the culmination of a lot of effort on Harris' part.

"I think some of the people in South Cape probably don't respect him as much as they should," Essner said. "They just see him as a bus driver. But he's very passionate and smart. If Robert had had an opportunity to go to college, he could have been a professor. He doesn't want other kids to miss the opportunity he missed."

Harris, 58, grew up in the Bootheel, working in farm labor and picking cotton starting at age 6. He did that every summer until he was 18, along with his sisters and his parents. He acknowledges he comes from humble beginnings and said his family was poor.

When he was 18, Harris moved to Cape Girardeau. Shortly after, he got his first job driving a bus. He also intermittently took jobs driving dump trucks and tractor-trailers. About 20 years ago, he settled back into driving a bus for the Cape Girardeau School District, something he has done ever since.

Harris said he was always interested in the community, but that interest took shape after he developed an interest in the land. He was always drawn to plants, he said, and he eventually took a Master Gardener course at the University of Missouri Extension office.

Then, about eight years ago, he was approached about starting the city's first community garden. He grew vegetables for the city's poor, senior citizens and shut-ins, he said. Today, there are six community gardens across the city and others have joined in to help, including the Cape Girardeau County Juvenile Detention Center and the Division of Youth Services' Echo Program.

He joined the parks board six years ago, already thinking that the south side needed a community center. At his job as a bus driver, he saw children playing basketball in the streets, fighting and sometimes getting into other trouble.

"They just didn't have a place to go," Harris said. "I've seen some good kids get caught up in some bad situations. But they needed some direction, someplace to go, something positive to do."

The center offers after-school activities, summer programs and includes a full-length basketball court.

"It sounds strange, but when something gets built and they can actually see it, you can see hope," Harris said. "You can see opportunity. When they see that things are being done, they feel like they're a part of something."

After chemotherapy, radiation and one surgery, Harris said, his battle with cancer may not be over but it's more manageable. He has a whole list of other things he wants to do, including a trip next month to Jamaica to help build a medical clinic.

Vaughn said Harris is one of the kindest, most generous men he's ever met.

"I have never met a man who cares more for his community and more about the teens in this community than Robert does," Vaughn said. "He doesn't have much, but what he does have he gives back to the community."

smoyers@semissourian.com

388-3642

Pertinent address:

835 S. West End Blvd., Cape Girardeau, MO