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Beloved Texas grandma followed all her robber's demands. Then he set her on fire.


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  • Nancy Judith Harris was 76 when she was brutally murdered at a convenience store in the Dallas suburb where she worked.
  • Her killer, Matthew Lee Johnson, is about to be executed by lethal injection for the 2012 killing.
  • Harris' three living sons and other family members plan on attending the execution. They shared with Paste BN just how great a grandmother Harris was.

Nancy Judith Harris and her three granddaughters had a special name for the Fridays they spent together, buying trinkets at Dollar Tree, eating McDonald's and playing for hours back home in the Dallas area.

They called them "Nini Days," based on the name they used for their Grandma Harris.

"She loved it. The girls loved it," Harris' daughter-in-law and the girls' mother, Elizabeth Harris, told Paste BN.

For years, Fridays were Nini Days. Until May 20, 2012.

Just like any other Sunday, Harris opened up the Fina Whip-in convenience store where she had worked for about five years. But instead of clocking out like normal, Harris left the store in an ambulance, with second- to fourth-degree burns covering much of her body after a robber poured lighter fluid over her head and set her on fire.

Harris succumbed to the burns when she was taken off life support five days later. She was 76.

Now 13 years later, Harris' convicted killer − Matthew Lee Johnson − is set to be executed by lethal injection on Tuesday, May 20. Johnson has never claimed innocence and his attorney says he deeply regrets the murder.

To honor her memory, Paste BN is looking back at Harris' tragic death and more importantly, her beautiful life.

What happened to Nancy Harris?

On May 20, 2012, Harris was working as a clerk at the convenience store Fina Whip-In in the Dallas suburb of Garland.

Johnson walked into the store and behind the sales counter where Harris stood, and then poured lighter fluid over her head, court documents say.

As Harris tried to open the cash register, Johnson took two lighters from a display, two packs of cigarettes and tried to remove a ring from Harris' finger. Court documents say that when the ring didn't budge, Johnson licked his own fingers to help slide it off.

Once Harris finally got the register open, Johnson took all of the cash and some coins from the tray, according to court documents.

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Almost immediately after Johnson took the money, surveillance video footage showed flames shooting up above the register, as Johnson had lit Harris on fire. Court documents say that Harris, engulfed in flames, ran to a nearby sink to try to put them out.

At the same time, Johnson "calmly" walked out of the convenience store, stopping to grab some candy, court documents state.

Unable to put out the fire, Harris went outside and yelled for help.

Two police officers, a firefighter and a paramedic responded, extinguishing Harris and taking her to a hospital by ambulance. Harris sustained second- to fourth-degree burns over 40% of her body, including her face, arms, hands, legs and chest.

Because of the severity of the injuries to her neck and face, Harris was placed on a ventilator, but her treatment team determined that she was not going to survive.

On May 25, 2012, Harris was taken off life support and passed away. She left behind four sons, John, Bryan, Scot and Chris. Bryan passed away at the age of 64 in February.

Nancy Harris loved her granddaughters, Dallas Cowboys

For several years up until her death, Harris' Friday afternoons were spent doting on her three granddaughters, Lorelai, Hannah and Olivia Harris, who are now 23, 21 and 18.

Supporting her grandchildren was perhaps one of Harris' greatest pleasures, Harris' daughter-in-law and the girls' mother, Elizabeth Harris, told Paste BN.

"She didn't miss anything of the kids. If there was an event for the grandkids, she was there," Elizabeth said.

Around the time Elizabeth and Harris' son Chris got married in 2000, Harris had a health scare, and doctors told her she needed to cut down on sodium. Initially, Harris tried to cut out all salt.

"(She) just wanted to make sure she was there to watch the kids graduate and get married and all of the things," Elizabeth said. "She took it seriously when they (doctors) told her, 'You need to take care of your health.' After that, she was as healthy as humanly possible so that she could be there for her grandkids and her family."

When she wasn't with her grandkids, Harris was cheering on the Dallas Cowboys. Elizabeth described her late mother-in-law as a "die hard" fan.

"Nancy was not a very tall person. She was about 4-foot-11 on a very good day and she broke her ceiling fan cheering for the Cowboys," Elizabeth said. "She jumped up so high she smacked it."

'Everybody knew who she was'

Harris worked at the Fina Whip-In for about five or six years to make some extra money during retirement, Elizabeth said. She worked part-time morning shifts but made sure to have Fridays off for "Nini Days."

South Garland High School is right around the corner from the convenience store, and Elizbeth said her mother-in-law had a good relationship with the students who stopped in before school.

"The kids did love her," Elizabeth said. "I mean, everybody knew Nancy at the gas station. Even now, 13 years later, I'll mention it, and somebody's like, 'That's your mother-in-law?' Everybody knew who she was."

Ready for the end

As Johnson's execution nears, Elizabeth said that she and her family are ready for it all to be over.

"It is just to the point where ... we're just tired and we just want it to be over with and done with," she said. "The truth of the matter is, there's no such thing as as 'healing.' You don't heal. Days get easier, but there's no day where it's totally healed."

She said that she and her husband Chris will be among the witnesses to Johnson's execution just north of Houston, as will Harris' other two living sons, Scot and John, and Scot's daughter Shelby.

She said that one of Harris' granddaughters is about to walk across the graduation stage at her high school in two weeks.

"And (Nancy) is not going to be there. Our oldest got married, she wasn't there," she added. "It's all those little things. She would've been there. She wouldn't have missed it for the world."

Contributing: Nick Penzenstadler

Greta Cross is a national trending reporter at Paste BN. Story idea? Email her at gcross@usatoday.com.