Kristin Harmon, the sister of NCIS star Mark Harmon and former wife of ’50s teen idol Ricky Nelson, died on April 27 at the age of 72.
Harmon’s daughter, Tracy Nelson, confirmed the news in a lengthy post on Facebook on May 1. She said her mother died from a heart attack.
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“Thanks Universe, for incarnating me into a group who lives through their art and painting and music and words so that if I ever need to check in with those that have gone I can, if my children ever need to know who they were, they can,” Tracy Nelson wrote. “It lessens the panic of never seeing someone again, face to face. Oh my God, such a Hurricane. Such a life.”
According to PEOPLE, Harmon was the older sister of Mark Harmon, 66, and former model Kelly Harmon, 69. Her father was Heisman trophy winner Tom Harmon; and mother, actress Elyse Knox Harmon.
When she was 12 years old, Harmon met Nelson, the son of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet stars Ozzie and Harriet Nelson. In 1963, at 18, she married Nelson, who by then was a chart-topping teen idol. That year, Harmon also became a regular star on Ozzie and Harriet as their TV daughter-in-law.
Harmon and Nelson had four children, Tracy, a former actress; twins Gunnar and Matthew, who started the band Nelson; and Sam. Their divorce was finalized in 1982, three years before Nelson’s tragic death in a plane crash.
During the 1980s, Harmon struggled with alcoholism. Her younger siblings took care of her children. Following Nelson’s death in 1985, Mark Harmon urged his sister to get into rehab.
“Nobody but my brother could have talked me into this because I trusted him,” Harmon said in a 1987 interview with PEOPLE. “A voice inside me said, ‘For once in your life, let somebody help you.’”
In the months following the rehab stint, there was a long court battle over custody of Sam, just 12 years old at the time. Mark received temporary custody, and Harmon was ordered to stay 200 yards away from his house. Following a nasty trial, a custody agreement was drawn up, with Harmon getting custody of Sam, and Mark given visiting rights. They also agreed to take family therapy.
Sam later formed a band himself and graduated from Boston College. In 2016, Sam told Medium he was close to his mother, who was living in New Mexico.
“As you get older, things that were important aren’t important anymore,” Sam said in 2016. “Problems aren’t problems anymore. You work through them, or you don’t. But for the most part, you hope to. I think we’re in a good way together, and we have a good relationship.”
