FALLBROOK - Semper Fidelis, the Marine Corps motto meaning Always Faithful, defined Geoffrey Shawn Harrison in life. And in death.

The 37-year-old chief warrant officer survived a tour in Iraq two years ago, serving in the Corps near exploding bombs and bullets. But he died last month, here at home. Harrison was riding his bicycle June 9 when a truck collided with him in Bonsall.

In death, he has continued to serve others faithfully, not on the battlefield but on the operating table. His heart and kidneys were donated to three people.

"In Shawn's death, a lot will go for what he represented in life," his wife said last week, the sting of his passing still raw. "Not only is he a hero, but he goes on. His heart is still beating."

Among the recipients of Harrison's organs were a man raising his 13-year-old-child, as well as another man with four children, said Sharon Ross, the spokeswoman for Lifesharing Community Organ and Tissue Donation. The San Diego-based organization was in charge of making arrangements for the donation of Harrison's heart and kidneys.

"We consider him not only a hero in life but also a hero in death, because he was able to save lives," Ross said.

Lifesharing says it supplies 26 hospitals and four local transplant centers with transplantable organs. In San Diego County, there are more than 1,300 people on the waiting list to receive organs, Ross said.

Harrison was a solid candidate for organ donation. The Georgia native was an athlete and an Iron Man competitor. On his last ride, his wife said, he was training for a race.

'We were invincible'

Photos of Shawn Harrison decorate the Fallbrook home the couple owned. His dog tags lie next to the fireplace. Their wedding album sits on the coffee table.

And in the corner, left from his memorial, he beams from a poster-sized photo. His arms are pumped high over his head as he crosses the finish line of an Iron Man competition in Florida in 2003 - he had finally made his goal of finishing the grueling race in less than 12 hours. Did it with five minutes to spare.

As she sat in her living room Thursday, Chris Harrison said that "very strangely enough," the subject of organ donation came up a few months ago. A television program the couple was watching prompted her to tell him that she wanted to be a donor. He told her that he did as well.

"He said give them everything, bones, tissues, everything," Chris Harrison said.

And then the conversation moved on to lighter topics. They were young. Death was a lifetime away.

"We were invincible," Chris Harrison said. "We weren't going to die. We were going to live to be 100."

'His heart and his body were strong'

About three months later, during a ride he'd taken several times before, he met his end as he was headed northbound on Old Highway 395 near West Lilac Road about 9:35 a.m. on June 9.

A Nissan pickup truck struck him.

His wife said a passer-by - a trauma physician - witnessed the crash and stayed with her husband until emergency workers transported Harrison by helicopter to Palomar Medical Center in Escondido.

She was in Mexico with friends at the time. It would be four hours before she would learn of the accident, and that her husband's death was likely imminent.

Chris Harrison said she reached the hospital just in time. Her husband's heart had just stopped; doctors and nurses were swarmed around his bed to revive him.

She said one of the doctors told her to let him go - but she asked them to save him. His organs could be donated only if his heart kept beating.

"It would be too big a loss if we couldn't give his organs," said Chris Harrison, who works as a respiratory therapist at Rady Children's Hospital.

The doctors continued their efforts, she said, and moments later Shawn Harrison had a heartbeat.

"I knew he was probably already gone," Chris Harrison said. "But I knew his heart and his body were strong."

He was declared legally dead the next day.

'He would have given his life there'

It was a death the Camp Pendleton Marine may have cheated just a few years before, when he found himself in Fallujah, Iraq, on a nine-month deployment.

"He would have given his life there," Chris Harrison said, pride in her voice. "I thank God that I got him for two more years."

She said her husband, who already had 17 years of service in the Marine Corps, planned to stay on active duty well past his 20-year mark.

He'd planned to follow what his wife said was his "biggest calling," mentoring young enlisted Marines.

One of those Marines was Cpl. Sylvester Sangalang.

"He taught me a better work ethic than I had," said Sangalang, 23.

Harrison would train with the younger Marines, Sangalang said.

"He'd take us out on really fun runs. OK, not fun, but killer runs," the corporal said. "It was awesome to see the higher part of our command is running with us. He was a great guy to look up to."

Chief Warrant Officer Gary Connors called Harrison "the most honest and forthright person I have ever met" and "the epitome of a Marine."

Hearing that his friend had asked that his organs be donated came as no surprise.

"I thought that was classic Shawn," Connors said Monday. "Helping others, even at the worst time of his life."

Just six days after he died, streams of bicyclists flowed from Carlsbad to the site of the accident that took Harrison's life. More than 60 people made the trek in his honor.

"He was a hero to me," Chris Harrison said. "He served his country first, and in the end, he was a hero because we were able to use his strong body."

- Contact staff writer Teri Figueroa at (760) 631-6624 or tfigueroa@nctimes.com.