Rebecca Harris wanted to learn guitar, but she never got the chance.
Rebecca, 20, died July 11 at Shands at UF from injuries after a hit-and-run accident on June 23 while crossing Southwest 16th Avenue on her bicycle.
Since Rebecca was young she always gravitated to the loners.
“If someone was sitting by themselves, even in elementary school, she would sit with them to make sure they weren’t alone,” said Shelly Harris, 44, Rebecca’s stepmother.
Rebecca lost her biological mother and gained Shelly as her stepmother when she was 7 years old.
Shelly Harris said the first time Rebecca met her she grabbed her hand and asked her to go on a merry-go-round.
“It made me feel accepted, immediately accepted,” she said.
She said she remembers her and her “Becca boo,” as she called her, being at the back of family bicycle trips chatting away the time.
Shelly Harris said Rebecca always loved being outside.
She taught herself to surf and loved to scuba dive and paddleboard.
“She was the only one we could get to weed out in the yard,” she said.
In Gainesville, she was in the process of deciding to become a journalism major with a history minor.
“It’s been a very challenging but uplifting few weeks in Gainesville,” said James Harris, 47, Rebecca’s father. “Our faith and trust in God have been revealed.”
He said the amount of people who have helped them throughout this process has been overwhelming.
A detective from the Gainesville Police Department came out several times to check in on the family.
“He was just being a human,” James Harris said.
Many of Rebecca’s sisters in Theta Alpha, a Christian sorority, held a vigil at Shands at UF when she died.
James Harris said many of the sorority sisters told stories about Rebecca, some of them he and his wife had never heard.
“When children go away to school it is a time for them to gain their independence and do what they do,” he said. “Many times parents don’t know how that evolution is going.”
Rebecca’s time at UF changed on Oct. 16, 2011.
Kayla Fernandez, a 21-year-old early childhood education senior, said she chose her as her little in Theta Alpha based off of almost nothing.
She said she chose her because she stood out in a crowd.
Talkative, tall and cute.
Fernandez said she and her little read the Bible together. Rebecca would regularly ask questions too deep for Fernandez to answer.
“She was just a very insightful person,” she said.
During their movie nights together, Rebecca would make brownie batter, which rarely made it to the oven.
One night they were hanging out, and Rebecca decided she wanted to dye her hair.
The first time she looked at her newly dyed hair she said, “Eh, I’ll get used to it.”
“She rolled with anything,” Fernandez said. “... she was one of the most amazing people I knew.”
Rebecca’s death has touched more than just her big sister in her sorority.
Stefani Broome, a 21-year-old religion senior and president of Theta Alpha, said when alumnae heard about Rebecca’s death they flooded the sorority’s Facebook group with support and love for the sister they’d never met.
“She was definitely someone who was an active part of this sorority,” she said.
Broome said she was light-hearted and loved to meet people.
“She wasn’t exclusive in any meaning of the word,” she said.
Broome remembers going to Rebecca’s dorm in spring to teach her guitar. That’s when she really connected with her.
“She was the girl you saw on campus, in Turlington, everyone recognized her,” Broome said. “She was that girl.”
Contact Ben Brasch at bbrasch@alligator.org.
Rebecca Harris, 20, bottom, is squatting below Kayla Fernandez, 21, Harris's big sister in Theta Alpha. Harris died July 11 from injuries after a hit-and-run accident on June 23.
