Wendell H. Harris

IN LOVING MEMORY OF
WENDELL H. HARRIS

BORN
November 29, 1929
St. Paul, Minnesota

PASSED AWAY
May 23, 2013
Spencer, Iowa

AGE
83 years 5 months 24 days

VISITATION
With family present from 2 – 4 P.M. Monday, May 27, 2013
Eldridge Family Funeral Home; Primghar, Iowa

FUNERAL SERVICE
10:30 A.M. Tuesday, May 28, 2013
St. Paul’s Lutheran Church; Hartley, Iowa
Rev. David Ericksen ~ Officiating

CONGREGATIONAL HYMNS
“In the Garden”
# 744 “Amazing Grace”
# 801 “How Great Thou Art”
#752 “Be Still My Soul”
Organist: Donna Ahlers

CASKET BEARERS
Samuel Renken Randal Renken
Scott McCarty Michael McCarty
Adam McCarty Justin McCarty

FINAL RESTING PLACE
Willow Creek Cemetery
Royal, Iowa

After today’s service relatives and friends are invited
to join the family in the fellowship hall of the church.

Arrangements are under the care of the
Eldridge Family Funeral Home; Primghar, Iowa

WENDELL H. HARRIS

Wendell H. Harris passed away on May 23, 2013, at the Spencer Hospital in Spencer, Iowa, at the age of 83.
Wendell, son of Harold and Mary (Halfhill) Harris, was born November 29, 1929, in St. Paul, Minnesota. He graduated from Sutherland High School in 1947. As a youth, Wendell helped at his family's newspaper, the Sutherland Courier. Wendell served with the United States Air Force at Long Island, New York. After his discharge, he continued the Harris family legacy in printing and publishing, beginning at Popular Mechanics in Chicago as a skilled Linotype operator and at one time owning weekly newspapers in Dodge Center and Stewartville, Minnesota. Throughout his career, he adapted to his industry's changing technology, shifting from letterpress to offset printing.
In 1952, Wendell was united in marriage to Mary Alice Toft. They lived in Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Arizona, and Missouri, before settling in Hartley in 1998. He took great joy in his family, Mary and “the girls,” his daughters' husbands, his grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Wendell loved fishing, spending family vacations in northern Minnesota, where he'd want “fish for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.” He also enjoyed peaceful hours casting with his brother Lionel. Wendell relished his years in Missouri, where he and Mary lived on a large wooded acreage and opened their home to relatives who enjoyed fishing on the pond, gathering gallons of blackberries, observing Wendell in his bee-keeping gear, and watching wildlife that appeared out the back window. Many will remember Wendell's fondness of bowling and lively debate, as well as his clever strategy during games of 500 and in his delivery of corny puns. Never too old to learn, he enjoyed e-mailing and “Googling it.”
Left to cherish Wendell's life is his loving wife of 60 years, Mary; three daughters and their husbands, Donna and Dan McCarty, Hartley, Iowa, Cynthia Harris and Scott Tome, Bloomington, Minnesota, and Laura and Jim Renken, Racine, Minnesota; nine grandchildren, Scott (Ana Montelongo), Michael (Jennifer), Adam (Nichole), Justin, Angela (Jakob Hasbrouck), and Maria McCarty, Olivia, Samuel (Lek Sophea), and Randal Renken; six great-grandchildren, MacKenzie Moll, Amelia, Aiden, Steven, and Simon Renken, and Jaxon Hasbrouck; brother R. Lionel Harris, Deer River, Minnesota; and many other beloved relatives and friends.
He is preceded in death by his parents and sister-in-law, Elaine Harris.