Harby Kreeger |
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Harby Kreeger Harby Kreeger, Jr. The family would like to thank the doctors, nurses, and friends who stood by him in this battle, especially Peggy Langenback during his greatest time of need. In his memory, raise a glass of your finest claret. Relatives and friends are invited to attend the memorial service in the Chapel of Lake Lawn Metairie Funeral Home, 5100 Pontchartrain Blvd. in New Orleans, on Saturday, January 11, 2020 at 3:00PM. A visitation will be held at the funeral home beginning at 1:00PM. Interment will be private. To view and sign the guest book, please visit www.lakelawnmetairie.com Harby was with us in the Gulfport school system from West Ward through high school. Even though he lived on Richards Avenue in Long Beach, as I understood the story, his mom and dad thought the Gulfport school system would be better for him. I remember his joining us in about the fourth grade at West Ward. All of us found it curious that Harby’s dad, also named Harby, rode the train to work in New Orleans every morning. Like most of you, I had never even been on a train. And to think that someone rode the train to work every day. Maybe it was in the fifth grade when Harby invited me to go with his family to New Orleans for the Mardi Gras. As you probably know, his family owned Kreeger’s, the women’s store on Canal Street at Bourbon, and that day, the second story windows were opened and we had a great time watching the parades. Harby was an unusual guy. While he was never an all-A student, we all knew that he was smarter than most of us. Occasionally he and Mike Horne - voted Most Intellectual - would have a conversation and it was clear that their brains shared the same wiring. Not one for organized sports, Harby was nevertheless a good athlete. I recall him playing briefly for the Felix Bertucci Lion’s Club baseball team one summer when we were about ten years old. On one occasion against my team, the Kiwanis Kids, Mr. Bertucci put Harby in as pitcher and he had no trouble with us. In high school, a daily rite occurred around 7:30 a.m. Harby would drive his car to Pat Taylor’s house on Woodward Avenue (Pat was his best friend) and pick up Pat, Bert Adams and me. We lived within a block of each other. Bert was always late and Harby was always pissed. As was the case with many of us, I lost touch with Harby after high school. But in the late sixties, I took a job as an accountant with Freeport Sulphur in downtown New Orleans, and Harby was working with his dad at the Kreeger’s on Canal Street. Pat Taylor worked in the store as well, and often Pat, Harby and I would have lunch at Felix’s in the Quarter and try to figure out how to bet on that week’s college and pro football games. (We were consistent losers.) As you probably remember, the city of New Orleans hit a bad spot in the early 1980’s as a result of falling oil and gas prices. The iconic Kreeger’s stores were victims. They lost all five of their Louisiana stores. Such was also the case with other upscale stores: D. H. Holmes, Godchaux, and Maison Blanche. But anyone who knew Harby could probably have anticipated that his energy and enthusiasm, and especially his smarts, would carry him a long way. Such was the case, as he had a successful second career with the investment firm Morgan Stanley, rising to the level of senior vice-president. Attached is a picture of Harby’s gravestone and as you can see, his name is not yet in place. This marker reflects his dad and his grandparents. (The grandparents immigrated from Germany.) Curiously Harby’s mother, Ruth Green Kreeger, is buried in Greene County, Mississippi, where she grew up. (See second picture.) -------------------------------------------------- I think all of us have wonderful memories of Harby. I wonder if Tim was on that famous fishing trip when Harby's boat had engine trouble and fog rolled in. I believe that y'all were very far out in the Gulf. Evidently Harby threw out the anchor and settle down for the night. As I was told the story, Mike Horne went on deck early the next morning and called to Harby " you've got to come up here and see this, there's a submarine right here ". Sure enough, there was a submarine and they called the Coast Guard to come bring the boys back home. You know, I can still remember Harby's voice. He was so funny. -------------------------------------------------- |
