Local man with prosthetic leg remembered for being a driven person who encouraged others

Visitation Tuesday for Harry Truss II who died June 7 at age 53.
Harry Truss II, who lost his left leg when he was 5, died June 7 at Hospice Care of Middletown. He was 53. SUBMITTED PHOTO

Harry Truss II, who lost his left leg when he was 5, died June 7 at Hospice Care of Middletown. He was 53. SUBMITTED PHOTO

Harry Truss II never let his left leg prosthesis stand in the way of achieving his ambitions.

When he was 5, his leg was amputated due to bone disorders discovered after birth, said his mother, Melonese Truss.

“He didn’t let anything stop him,” she said. “He was amazing until the end.”

Truss, diagnosed with cancer nine years ago, died June 7 at Hospice Care of Middletown. He was 53.

He attended D. Russel Lee Career Center and graduated from Middletown High School in 1987. He began his career as a teenager at Frisch’s, then worked in the maintenance department of the Oxford Post Office for 32 years.

He loved to swim, wrestle and shoot basketball, his mother said. Her son never considered his prosthesis a disability.

“He didn’t look at it like that,” she said. “That was all that boy ever knew.”

Wilhelmina Prier, a family friend for many years, said she appreciated his perseverance and he never used his disability as an excuse.

“Whatever he lacked, he made up for it,” Prier said.

Truss, 77, a single mother, raised Harry and his sister, Tara, after her divorce. She is partially sighted and called it “a struggle” at times, but her son never let her get too depressed.

“He was an encouragement to me,” she said. “He’d always say, ‘Momma, be strong.’ He made me strong. At times, I was like a pity party, but I got my strength from him.”

Harry and Sheila Truss were married for six years. Harry Truss, 53, died June 7 at Hospice Care of Middletown. SUBMITTED PHOTO

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Sheila Truss, his wife of six years, said everyone who met her husband “fell in love with him” because of his outgoing personality.

His visitation is set for 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. Tuesday at Mt. Zion Baptist Church, 1000 Yankee Road, Middletown, followed by funeral service at 11 a.m. He will be buried at Woodside Cemetery, 1401 Woodside Blvd.

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