Jeremy “Jake” Betts Harrison, 55, died Sunday, October 23, 2022, at the Hospice of the Fisher Home in Amherst, MA. The cause was cancer. His wife and two close friends were by his side.
Jake was born September 20, 1967, in Wethersfield, CT. He was adopted as an infant by the Reverends Harold “Hal” and Mary Ellen “Bettsy” Harrison. The family moved to Springfield, Vermont, in the late seventies.
In 1985, he graduated from Springfield High School, where he was an Olympics of the Mind state champion. A school French club trip took him to Paris, France, where he developed a lifelong appreciation for French cuisine.
After high school, Jake worked as a professional cook for a year. He then attended Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio for two years, where he majored in physics and film and had a show on WYSO Public Radio.
During college, Jake met his future wife, Danielle Lorenzo, at a Unitarian Universalist youth conference in Pittsfield, MA via a mutual friend, Jennifer (Harrison) Devine. Jake and Danielle were married in 1995 and were each other’s lifelong companions and best friends.
In the early years of his marriage, Jake lived in Westfield, N.J., where he began work as an automotive technician. He moved to Southampton, MA in 1997. He was eventually hired by Kia of Northampton, where he became a master technician and achieved second place in the “Best of the Best” Eastern Technician Competition in Irvine, CA in 2004. He became a co-owner of Florence Animal Clinic in Northampton, MA with his wife in 2011.
Jake was known for his quick wit and his ability to make people laugh with his deadpan and irreverent sense of humor, and he had a deep appreciation for stand-up comedy. His hobbies included cooking, sailing, and computer games. He was especially interested in the study of science, logic, atheism, and the fermentation of grains and hops.
Jake is survived by his loving wife Danielle, brother David Harrison, nephew Nick Richey, numerous close friends, and two cats. He was preceded in death by his parents. He had no children.
