A Father's Rights to His Child, Are They Actually Rights?
In Lasalle, Illinois, George Harmon is grieving the loss of his only son., Kristopher. Kristopher Harmon died from an accidental gunshot wound while cleaning his gun on Friday, August 22 in his home in Council Bluff, Iowa.
Harmon received a call around 8:30 p.m that night from his daughter-in-law Ginger Harmon. "I was devastated, when she called I kept thinking that it was a joke. It could not have happened to my son." states Harmon. The following day was a blur, Harmon made calls to his family and kept in touch with Kristopher's widow, in order to have information on what happened and what the services were going to be. "Everything was a blur, I was numb, I just wanted it all to be a mistake."
Sunday brought more grief, when Harmon received one final call from Ginger regarding the obituary that was published in the August 24th Council Bluffs Non Pariel newspaper. "The call was to warn me that I was not mentioned in the obit, I was never mentioned as the father. Another man was." Apparently a man by the name of Keith Hadfield of Omaha, Nebraska was mentioned as the surviving father.
Upon finding this out and trying to contact the paper to no avail, he contacted the Cuttler-O'Neill-Meyer-Woodring Funeral Home also located in Council Bluffs, Iowa to find out who had wrote the obituary. "I was directed to the director, and he stated that he had wrote the obituary at the request of Kristopher Harmon's wife and mother Renee Lewis. The director was very apologetic but had stated that he can not change the information per that request, and that it did concern him that Keith Hadfield was named Kristopher's father on the death certificate."
A statement from the funeral home representative was that they can not change the information on the death certificate because the family would not allow it. It was also requested that Harmon not be mentioned in the obituary even though he is the father. Harmon noticed that there was a number of different discrepancies in the obituary.
"For one Kristopher was the only son to Renee Lewis and myself, the paper has it listed that he is survived by two brothers. Kris has four sisters all were neglected in being mentioned, and he has a surviving grandmother Barbara Lewis. Non of these persons were mentioned, it was like we were never part of his life. We never existed."
According to Harmon this is unacceptable being that he is paying child support on this young man. "I have been paying back child support and have paid child support for many years. Where is the justification for that?"
Calls made to the Iowa and Illinois Child Support enforcement gave no answers to the problem. " I was shuffled from Illinois to Iowa, and then was told that because I was married to Renee at the time of his birth that made me his father. So why is this Hadfield on my son's death certificate?" A representative of the Iowa Child support enforcement confirmed this in a phone call Monday. "In Iowa a man is considered the father of a child if the two parents are married. There is no need for a paternity test when there is a marriage involved."
Harmon states that Lewis left him allegedly three months pregnant, and did not know of the son until Kristopher was 6 years of age. After that visits for the boy was rare because Lewis was always moving around. "She made it impossible to know my son, moving from place to place. Kris found me at age 16 and that is where we rebuilt our relationship. There was no indication made at that time that Kris was not mine. It was only after death did this man get mentioned as the father of Kristopher."
This is where the plot thickens, a call placed to Lewis's family gave some insight into this woman's deception. A family member who only would give her first name as Jolene stated that Lewis could place any name on the death certificate because she was unsure who the young man's father. "She could of used Bob Barker's name if she wanted too. Keith or George did not submit to an DNA test, so we are legally able to put what ever we want to on that paper."
According to Harmon he was never asked to, "If I was asked to do a DNA test I would have, I loved Kristopher, he was my world."
Harmon has placed many calls since that call, and is getting brick wall after brick wall in any response. "All I am getting is a run around, I feel like I can not get any closer in this situation. To me there is no doubt Kris was my son, but now in his death I am cut out. This is a repeat of how it was in his life."
Until Harmon gets closure, he is left with memories of his son, Kristopher, and wonders how in a system of government that innocent people are being punished. "I compare this torture like a jail sentence, I am being punished for something I have not done. My son is gone, and now my identity as his father is wiped away. According to the state of Iowa, I will still be paying the price of this woman's lies for many years to come."
So Harmon is left to ponder his fate, and cry over the loss of his son. He wipes away the tears as he looks at pictures of his son from his last visit little over a year ago. Kristopher left behind a wife and three young children along with the mystery who is his father.
Published by Ann Weeks
I am a single mother of four, I freelance report for some of the local papers for over 6 yrs now and returned to college to finish my degree in journalism. View profile
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6 Comments
Post a CommentTHE YOUNG MAN DIED and mr harmon we can all see your grieving the loss of your son when your son needed help kieth was there consider it fortunate that he was sometimes they need guidence and look for it elsewhere .rememberelvis has left the building its time to lay it to rest enjoy the good times you has and please get this off the internet thank you.
there was no doubt that you loved your husband. It is how you handle your self with this article. Perhaps maybe instead of writing comments like what you have been doing, Mr. Harmon would listen to what you have to say. Life is to short to fight like idiots. What George feels for his son is a great loss. What you feel is the same. I feel that there is a better way of communicating instead of attacking each other on AC. This article was not an attack on you, but the system which denies a father his rights.
I have access to pictures where Kris is pretty young and he is with Mr. Harmon and his sister Michelle, so there is no doubt that Mr. Harmon had some relationship with is son. But as with many divorces, the child is the pawn. So now he pays, Kris's memory pays and unfortunately you are in the middle of the conflict. Maybe step outside the situation and see what could be the truth too.
would never see his grandchildren and that was not a threat but a promise. I am finished with the bs this is all uncalled for. I honestly am clueless on what to say because no matter what i say it gets deleted and no matter what i say certain people want to believe the lies. I pray that one day it will stop.
No one can blame me for speaking out of anger with everything that is going on so i am sure i did use cuss words. And yes i did as you can say "play both sides" because i am scared of bob because i know what he is capable of and i am afraid. He was not a caring father my husband almost died 4 times in his lifetime and i only know of one time when bob showed up and that it wasn't for very long. My husband had a hard life and I remember all the anger he had towards bob for the things he had done to him and his mom in the past and like i stated before my comment was deleted that the ones who kristopher loved know the truth and thats what matters if other people cannot respect my husband wishes then you don't need to be in any part of his life which includes his children because they were his whole life. So i will say I am sorry for speaking out of anger and not letting myself cool down first but i do not in any way regret anything i said and i never threatened him except for that he woul
Update 2: After many calls to the Iowa State Medical Examiners Office. It has been comfirmed that George Harmon will be listed as the father of Kristopher Harmon. Iowa Law states that the Biological father must be named as father on any vital statistic forms, which includes the death certificate. By insisting that Keith Hatfield is the father, the two women run the risk of state charges. So unless they can prove that Kristopher is not George Harmon's son, the death certificate can not be changed.
Update:
Since the story being published in August, Mr. Harmon received a number of threatening phone calls from Renee Lewis, and Ginger Harmon. The calls are recorded and have been turned over to the Council Bluffs Police Department. Although I agree that there are two sides of a story. The messages left on Mr. Harmon's phone prove that his story holds truth. As a previous comment from Ms. Lewis states that Mr. Harmon only pays $60 dollars a month in child support, I have proof from the Illinois Child Support Enforcement, and Iowa Child Support Enforcement that he pays $120 dollars a month to Ms. Lewis.
Mrs. Harmon, your comments left both on this site and on Mr. Harmon's phone show that you have been misled, or you have been playing both sides to the middle. One moment you are telling Mr. Harmon that you know the he loved Kristopher, then the next moment the message left on the phone is that he was an uncaring father in so many words. I will leave the cuss words out of the quote