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MEMBER PROFILE Timothy D. Harp Colonel Ben E. Caudill Camp #1629 |
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 Tim Harp |
"With just a quick glance at Caudill Camp member Tim Harp it's obvious he's one big, powerful young man. But beyond what first meets the eye is a guy who backs up his strength with desire and dependability...desire to work as hard as anyone to see that our local Confederate heroes have a properly marked grave no matter where they're located and dependability in making himself available for back-breaking stone setting work every single week of the year. Tim was born in Hazard, Kentucky in 1971. He grew up on Upper Second Creek and attended M.C. Napier High School. At age 17 he joined the National Guard and served for 8 years. He was almost called up during Desert Storm and received extensive military training in desert warfare. Tim has worked in a wide variety of occupations that include Helig-Meyers Furniture, Kroger, Skyes Enterprises, and more recently the Hazard Shell Mart. He is a direct descendant of Private Andrew Combs of Company I of the 5th Kentucky Infantry and has Confederate relatives that include all of the 61 members of the Combs family that served in the 13th Kentucky. His wife Mary Beth works at the Inez Deposit Bank in Hazard and she is a direct descendant of the 13th's James Peter Combs. Tim and Mary Beth and son Brandon will be moving to the Lothair section of Hazard later this month. Tim's hobbies include medieval reenacting, movies, computer games, and Blacksmithing. When asked to bring his blacksmithing skills to the first Battle of Leatherwood reenactment in October of 2002 Tim was introduced to the Sons of Confederate Veterans. He immediately joined the Colonel Ben Caudill and within a few days was asked by Commander Sparkman to help set a marker for Pvt. John Walker Amburgey. This was a very difficult stone setting mission straight up the side of a steep mountain in Knott County. Because of the difficulty, Commander Sparkman was afraid this may have been Tim's first and last offer of help with stone setting. Instead he was shocked to learn that Tim would make himself available to set stones every week over the next two years no matter how tough the terrain. Tim and Faron have spent hundreds of hours traveling thousands of miles to set stones. In just 20 months with the Caudill Camp Tim Harp has set stones in 29 counties and four states for an amazing total of 140 granite headstones. In one month alone (June of 2003) Tim set 17 Confederate markers. He's been on some of the camp's toughest, steepest stone setting assignments including this year with Riley Webb in Magoffin County, William Arrowood in Johnson County, William Baker, William Stidham and James Little in Breathitt County, George W. Allen in Floyd County and Jeremiah Roberts in Lee County. Even during the hardest times Tim never complained. He has truly honored our Eastern Kentucky Confederate soldiers by providing his time, his muscle, and his heart like few others have ever done, not just in this camp but also in any camp in the nation. We are honored to have this man as a brother. Ladies and gentleman let us tip our kepis and give up a hardy rebel yell for our brother Tim Harp! " [Newsletter Aug 04]
|  Andrew Combs
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