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Indianapolis Star

Tim Harmon, founder of Indianapolis's Teeny Statue of Liberty Museum, dies at 72

Tim Harmon, a community advocate and eccentric collector best known for curating one of the nation's largest personal collections of Statues of Liberty, died June 30, from congestive heart failure. He was 72. Over the years, Harmon became a fixture on Indianapolis's east side, where he owned and operated Another Fine Mess and Indy's Teeny Statue of Liberty Museum. Earlier in his life, he owned and ran Tim & Billy's Salvage on the near northside, which morphed into Tim & Avi's Salvage. Harmon's legacy lives on through both the money he'd hand out from his pocket stash to those less fortunate around him and the many people he met while running his businesses. One of Tim Harmon's proudest achievements, his son Avi Harmon said, was the creation of the Statue of Liberty Museum, home to more than 600 replicas of Lady Liberty in all sizes. 'It was definitely his dream,' Avi Harmon said. 'A place to display his personality." According to Avi Harmon, the museum plans to move from its current home on East 10th Street to the Factory Arts Design building on Massachusetts Avenue and open next April. Avi Harmon said the hope is that the museum will eventually be able to organize groups of inner-city kids to travel to New York to see the real statue. A tireless supporter of his community, Tim Harmon never hesitated to lend a hand, said Julie Cicada Crow, his partner of 15 years. She said that he often spoke his mind and could hold grudges when he perceived disloyalty, but he always remained incredibly generous. 'He had a crusty exterior and no filter,' she said. 'But he was a genuine lover of humanity. He always had a pocketful of $5 bills to give to the hungry people on the corner where we worked.' Born July 21, 1952 in Evanston, Illinois, Tim moved to Indianapolis at seven years old. When Avi Harmon was a child, his father took him on excursions every weekend, visiting The Children's Museum, the zoo, and other local attractions. 'He was more than just a dad,' Avi Harmon said. 'He was a friend, but also a parent, and he made it more than that. Every weekend with him was a new experience.' More recently Tim Harmon and Crow spent every Sunday evening watching movies. Before he passed, Julie said the two watched one final movie: The Life of Chuck. Harmon "was kind of famous for" writing movie reviews on Facebook, Crow said, and she could imagine what he would say. "He'd start out by saying, 'Julie really liked this movie, but I didn't understand it,'" she said. "He was a very, very simple and straightforward man. And so the complexity of (the movie), he resisted that." Avi said his father's reach spanned every circle because he didn't just tolerate difference, he embraced it. "He was very much a part of everyone's circle, no matter who you were, whether gay, straight, black, or white," Avi Harmon said. Tim Harmon was always lending his truck to someone. He would fix neighbors' windows. He supported local arts whenever he could. And he never hesitated to shoot local civic associations an email to stand up for what he believed. 'Everyone knew who Tim Harmon was and what he was about,' his son said. 'He fought for what he thought was right.' After decades living with heart failure, Tim was ready to let go, Avi Harmon said. And yet, even his final days carried his trademark thoughtfulness. He chose to spend his last days at home where friends and neighbors could visit. Julie said that about 30 people came by from between Saturday night to five in the afternoon on Monday to say their goodbyes. 'So many things were already taken care of. It was a good death. A good life and a good death, if there is such a thing,' Julie said. A memorial is planned for July 20 — one day before what would have been Tim Harmon's 73rd birthday.