—Register-Guard
Eugene, Oregon
April 4, 2013
Walter P. Harding, Jr.
Walt died a week to the day he was placed on hospice, too weak, at age 92, to 'rage against the dying of the light'. He confronted death as he confronted most things in life with a sense of humor and that laid back Tennessee way of his that endeared him to all who knew him.
Walt was born in a remote farmhouse in the back hills of Tennessee to Walter Parker Harding, Sr. and Annie Lee Byars. The old farm house was twenty miles from the nearest high school, too far away for Walt to attend, so he began his working career in a rock quarry at the age of sixteen. He was good with his hands, good with engines, had a knack for making things work, and quickly became that company's lead mechanic. When he was old enough to join the Navy, he asked to be trained as a pilot. He met all the qualification criteria except for a high school diploma. It was a major turning point in his life, but, as always, he took his disappointment in stride.
Walt met Mary Emma Moore, a surgical nurse at Kaiser-Permanente hospital in Oakland, during WWII while waiting to be shipped overseas with the Navy. She became a tireless helpmate and companion until her death in 1989. The two of them converted an old school bus into living quarters before it was fashionable to live in converted buses and when the two of them crossed the Oregon border to make a new life together after the war, they had one dollar and thirty-two cents between them.
Walt found work as a millwright, boiler tender, and mechanic for Harold Jones and later for Georgia-Pacific for almost 30 years. Working swing shift six and seven days/week, Walt would come home, watch Johnny Carson, get some sleep, a light breakfast, and then go to work restoring houses that he would then rent out. Ultimately, he built Mary's dream house on Whitbeck Boulevard where she died of cancer after forty-three years of marriage.
After caring for Mary at home until her death, Walt, already retired from G-P since 1982, then went back to Tennessee to care for his mother in her late nineties at her home. It was there he reconnected with 'the girl next door', Mildred Irene Sparkman-Farris, whom he married in Reno in 1991. They had twenty-two active, music filled years together, church every Sunday and a trip to Maui.
Walt was preceded in death by both his parents and his younger brother, Edward B. Harding. He is survived by his wife, Mildred, a half sister, Doris Grandey, a half brother, John K. Jones, and a nephew, Eddie Jr., all residing in Tennessee; one child, Cara Zane McKenzie of Eugene, two granddaughters, Allison Eslyn McKenzie-Lawrence of Bellevue, Washington and Christina Renee Seber-Nelson of Jackson, Wyoming, and one great granddaughter, Annika Rose McKenzie-Lawrence of Bellevue, Washington.
A graveside service for Walt will be held on Friday, April 5 at Lane Memorial Gardens at 3:00 pm. In lieu of flowers, donations would be welcomed by the Oregon Old Time Fiddlers Scholarship Fund or Cascade Hospice.
Arrangements by Andreason's Cremation & Burial Service in Springfield.
Eugene, Oregon
April 4, 2013
Walter P. Harding, Jr.
Walt died a week to the day he was placed on hospice, too weak, at age 92, to 'rage against the dying of the light'. He confronted death as he confronted most things in life with a sense of humor and that laid back Tennessee way of his that endeared him to all who knew him.
Walt was born in a remote farmhouse in the back hills of Tennessee to Walter Parker Harding, Sr. and Annie Lee Byars. The old farm house was twenty miles from the nearest high school, too far away for Walt to attend, so he began his working career in a rock quarry at the age of sixteen. He was good with his hands, good with engines, had a knack for making things work, and quickly became that company's lead mechanic. When he was old enough to join the Navy, he asked to be trained as a pilot. He met all the qualification criteria except for a high school diploma. It was a major turning point in his life, but, as always, he took his disappointment in stride.
Walt met Mary Emma Moore, a surgical nurse at Kaiser-Permanente hospital in Oakland, during WWII while waiting to be shipped overseas with the Navy. She became a tireless helpmate and companion until her death in 1989. The two of them converted an old school bus into living quarters before it was fashionable to live in converted buses and when the two of them crossed the Oregon border to make a new life together after the war, they had one dollar and thirty-two cents between them.
Walt found work as a millwright, boiler tender, and mechanic for Harold Jones and later for Georgia-Pacific for almost 30 years. Working swing shift six and seven days/week, Walt would come home, watch Johnny Carson, get some sleep, a light breakfast, and then go to work restoring houses that he would then rent out. Ultimately, he built Mary's dream house on Whitbeck Boulevard where she died of cancer after forty-three years of marriage.
After caring for Mary at home until her death, Walt, already retired from G-P since 1982, then went back to Tennessee to care for his mother in her late nineties at her home. It was there he reconnected with 'the girl next door', Mildred Irene Sparkman-Farris, whom he married in Reno in 1991. They had twenty-two active, music filled years together, church every Sunday and a trip to Maui.
Walt was preceded in death by both his parents and his younger brother, Edward B. Harding. He is survived by his wife, Mildred, a half sister, Doris Grandey, a half brother, John K. Jones, and a nephew, Eddie Jr., all residing in Tennessee; one child, Cara Zane McKenzie of Eugene, two granddaughters, Allison Eslyn McKenzie-Lawrence of Bellevue, Washington and Christina Renee Seber-Nelson of Jackson, Wyoming, and one great granddaughter, Annika Rose McKenzie-Lawrence of Bellevue, Washington.
A graveside service for Walt will be held on Friday, April 5 at Lane Memorial Gardens at 3:00 pm. In lieu of flowers, donations would be welcomed by the Oregon Old Time Fiddlers Scholarship Fund or Cascade Hospice.
Arrangements by Andreason's Cremation & Burial Service in Springfield.
—Register-Guard
Eugene, Oregon
April 4, 2013
Walter P. Harding, Jr.
Walt died a week to the day he was placed on hospice, too weak, at age 92, to 'rage against the dying of the light'. He confronted death as he confronted most things in life with a sense of humor and that laid back Tennessee way of his that endeared him to all who knew him.
Walt was born in a remote farmhouse in the back hills of Tennessee to Walter Parker Harding, Sr. and Annie Lee Byars. The old farm house was twenty miles from the nearest high school, too far away for Walt to attend, so he began his working career in a rock quarry at the age of sixteen. He was good with his hands, good with engines, had a knack for making things work, and quickly became that company's lead mechanic. When he was old enough to join the Navy, he asked to be trained as a pilot. He met all the qualification criteria except for a high school diploma. It was a major turning point in his life, but, as always, he took his disappointment in stride.
Walt met Mary Emma Moore, a surgical nurse at Kaiser-Permanente hospital in Oakland, during WWII while waiting to be shipped overseas with the Navy. She became a tireless helpmate and companion until her death in 1989. The two of them converted an old school bus into living quarters before it was fashionable to live in converted buses and when the two of them crossed the Oregon border to make a new life together after the war, they had one dollar and thirty-two cents between them.
Walt found work as a millwright, boiler tender, and mechanic for Harold Jones and later for Georgia-Pacific for almost 30 years. Working swing shift six and seven days/week, Walt would come home, watch Johnny Carson, get some sleep, a light breakfast, and then go to work restoring houses that he would then rent out. Ultimately, he built Mary's dream house on Whitbeck Boulevard where she died of cancer after forty-three years of marriage.
After caring for Mary at home until her death, Walt, already retired from G-P since 1982, then went back to Tennessee to care for his mother in her late nineties at her home. It was there he reconnected with 'the girl next door', Mildred Irene Sparkman-Farris, whom he married in Reno in 1991. They had twenty-two active, music filled years together, church every Sunday and a trip to Maui.
Walt was preceded in death by both his parents and his younger brother, Edward B. Harding. He is survived by his wife, Mildred, a half sister, Doris Grandey, a half brother, John K. Jones, and a nephew, Eddie Jr., all residing in Tennessee; one child, Cara Zane McKenzie of Eugene, two granddaughters, Allison Eslyn McKenzie-Lawrence of Bellevue, Washington and Christina Renee Seber-Nelson of Jackson, Wyoming, and one great granddaughter, Annika Rose McKenzie-Lawrence of Bellevue, Washington.
A graveside service for Walt will be held on Friday, April 5 at Lane Memorial Gardens at 3:00 pm. In lieu of flowers, donations would be welcomed by the Oregon Old Time Fiddlers Scholarship Fund or Cascade Hospice.
Arrangements by Andreason's Cremation & Burial Service in Springfield.
Eugene, Oregon
April 4, 2013
Walter P. Harding, Jr.
Walt died a week to the day he was placed on hospice, too weak, at age 92, to 'rage against the dying of the light'. He confronted death as he confronted most things in life with a sense of humor and that laid back Tennessee way of his that endeared him to all who knew him.
Walt was born in a remote farmhouse in the back hills of Tennessee to Walter Parker Harding, Sr. and Annie Lee Byars. The old farm house was twenty miles from the nearest high school, too far away for Walt to attend, so he began his working career in a rock quarry at the age of sixteen. He was good with his hands, good with engines, had a knack for making things work, and quickly became that company's lead mechanic. When he was old enough to join the Navy, he asked to be trained as a pilot. He met all the qualification criteria except for a high school diploma. It was a major turning point in his life, but, as always, he took his disappointment in stride.
Walt met Mary Emma Moore, a surgical nurse at Kaiser-Permanente hospital in Oakland, during WWII while waiting to be shipped overseas with the Navy. She became a tireless helpmate and companion until her death in 1989. The two of them converted an old school bus into living quarters before it was fashionable to live in converted buses and when the two of them crossed the Oregon border to make a new life together after the war, they had one dollar and thirty-two cents between them.
Walt found work as a millwright, boiler tender, and mechanic for Harold Jones and later for Georgia-Pacific for almost 30 years. Working swing shift six and seven days/week, Walt would come home, watch Johnny Carson, get some sleep, a light breakfast, and then go to work restoring houses that he would then rent out. Ultimately, he built Mary's dream house on Whitbeck Boulevard where she died of cancer after forty-three years of marriage.
After caring for Mary at home until her death, Walt, already retired from G-P since 1982, then went back to Tennessee to care for his mother in her late nineties at her home. It was there he reconnected with 'the girl next door', Mildred Irene Sparkman-Farris, whom he married in Reno in 1991. They had twenty-two active, music filled years together, church every Sunday and a trip to Maui.
Walt was preceded in death by both his parents and his younger brother, Edward B. Harding. He is survived by his wife, Mildred, a half sister, Doris Grandey, a half brother, John K. Jones, and a nephew, Eddie Jr., all residing in Tennessee; one child, Cara Zane McKenzie of Eugene, two granddaughters, Allison Eslyn McKenzie-Lawrence of Bellevue, Washington and Christina Renee Seber-Nelson of Jackson, Wyoming, and one great granddaughter, Annika Rose McKenzie-Lawrence of Bellevue, Washington.
A graveside service for Walt will be held on Friday, April 5 at Lane Memorial Gardens at 3:00 pm. In lieu of flowers, donations would be welcomed by the Oregon Old Time Fiddlers Scholarship Fund or Cascade Hospice.
Arrangements by Andreason's Cremation & Burial Service in Springfield.
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