Otis James Harrell

Otis James Harrell died in Shreveport on August 24, 2026. He was 83. Born in Shreveport on February 8, 1943, into a African American household that treated work as a language. He learned early that a day is something you finish, not something you wait for. He worked floors that punished careless minutes. A hard hat scratched with his initials hung in the garage like a medal without ceremony. Colleagues still mention a hard hat scratched with his initials. He married Pearl in 1969. They kept a house that stayed modest when the neighborhood did not. They raised three children through public schools and ordinary weather. After Pearl died in 2019, he kept the routines that still made sense: the walk, the garden, the Sunday call. Neighbors remember coffee offered before questions. He liked early mornings before the heat or the noise. He died in Shreveport, among streets he never needed to explain. The recipe card is still stained in the useful places.