FORT GIBSON — W.B. “Pops” Staggs watched the dedication of the new bridge on Donkey Lane Saturday with tears swelling in his eyes.

The bridge was dedicated to the memory of his late grandson, Kelly Harris, with several of his classmates from the Class of 1999 attending.

Staggs, a patient at the Jack C. Montgomery VA Medical Center, got a special pass to be at the event. He had to watch the event from a van parked near the ceremony.

He said the service reminded him of his times with his grandson.

“I just thought of all the times we crossed the bridge together,” Staggs said. “I wish he could have been here.”

Harris, the son of Steve and Sue Harris, died in 2003, at age 22, after a long struggle with muscular dystrophy. He was a senior at Northeastern State University. He had been a state ambassador with the Muscular Dystrophy Association and was honored with Kelly Harris Day in Fort Gibson on May 1, 1992.

He was voted “Best Personality” in his graduating class. Saturday, his classmates remembered him for that personality as a part of their 10-year class reunion.

“He was such a special person,” said Barry Steveson, who graduated from high school and attended college with Harris. “He had a loving heart for everyone. He was one of those people who treated everybody nice and like he would want to be treated.”

Jeremiah Pease remembered Harris’ smile and his ambition.

“Even though he was in a wheelchair and everything, it never threatened him,” Pease said.

Harris lived just down the road from the new bridge. Dedicating it to his memory was the idea of state Sen. Earl Garrison, D-Muskogee, and former Fort Gibson School superintendent. Garrison could not attend Saturday’s ceremonies, as he was out of state.

Once Rick and Jarita Cardwell heard the idea, they set about raising money for the plaque that is set in the concrete toward the east end of the bridge.

District 1 Commissioner Gene Wallace, was speaker at the dedication ceremony. He said Harris built some bridges of his own during his lifetime.

“They were bridges of spirit, courage, understanding and acceptance,” Wallace said. “As long as you keep people in your memory, none of us will really ever be gone.”

Wallace said the new bridge replaces a bridge that is more than 100 years old and used to be on the main highway to Braggs. Because that bridge is historic, it will not be removed when the new bridge goes into use in about one month.