He’s Millikin’s first
minister-firefighter-trombonist-EMT-ventriloquist. We think. But one thing’s for sure: Ray Harrison ’62 of Chillicothe, Ill., is a humble, well-rounded,
caring guy. His may not be a high-profile career, but he lives a life that continues to help others. From
that, there is no real retirement.
Harrison’s journey to the
ministry began when he was 16 and his family moved to a new residence in Des
Plaines, Ill., joining the Good Samaritan United Evangelical Brethren
Church. He then attended Millikin,
graduating in religion and sociology, and thereafter attended the Evangelical
Theological Seminary at North Central College. After nearly 40 years of
faithfully serving small Illinois communities, Harrison recently retired in
June 2002. Unable to give it up entirely, he continues to preach at a small
country church on the weekends.
He says he loves being a minister because, “I like being able to help people in various aspects of their
lives, including the really stressful moments” – which also is why he enjoys
working as a firefighter and EMT.
As with most ventures in his life, these other lines of work began through the church. A member of
Harrison’s congregation in Spring Bay notified him that the town was in need of
volunteer firefighters. He joined the department and continued to volunteer for the next 17 years. When Spring Bay
was short on emergency medical personnel, he completed EMT training at Illinois
Central College in East Peoria. Harrison has now been an EMT for 29 years, serving five communities.
Although he is not currently working as an EMT, he hopes to return to the
Chillicothe Fire Department’s critical incident management stress team
soon.
Harrison also has a talent for ventriloquism, a skill picked up in 1980 when he met a pastor who was a
ventriloquist. Intrigued, he got his own dummy and began practicing in the car
while driving back and forth to ICC, where he taught a first aid class. He
mostly uses ventriloquism at church to magnetize children during the children’s
service, but he also pulls out “Geezer,” “Shorty,” “Denny” or any other of his eight dummies to amuse
families just for fun.
Another of Harrison’s gifts is his ability to play the trombone. He played in Millikin’s marching band,
stopped playing after graduation, then picked it up again decades later when he
found that it was a great stress reliever. After practicing two and a half
hours a night, he was proficient enough to play with the Peoria Heights
Municipal Band. Harrison also plays flugelbone, a rare, smaller, higher-pitched
version of the trombone.
“Millikin laid a great foundation to launch learning,”
says Harrison. “It helped me reach my goal of the ministry and was a great
experience for me. I’m part of a great community, with many good friends I’ve
continued to keep in touch with.”
