Obituary of Harry H. Whittaker

Harry H. Whittaker August 30, 1925 to April 24, 2005 “Dearly Loved, Always Remembered” Father, Husband, Brother, Uncle, Son, Soldier & Friend. Harry loved to learn. He was always studying and reading. The last few years of his life he studied with Ramtha School of Enlightenment. He served his country faithfully in two wars and always took on life to be an adventure! He would try new things or invent new ways to get something done. When opportunity came around he didn’t mind causing a little mischief. He had a heart for fun and the unusual. His passions were photography, bargains and again learning. Harry was raised in Idaho, born in Archer and spent his younger years in Rexburg. One of fourteen children, he knew what it was like to make things last, share and the definition of hard work, which anyone being raised on a farm would know intimately. As soon as age would permit Harry was off to World War II in the army. He was lost behind enemy lines and thought lost, yet was soon back at camp attending his wounds. Following WW II, he would join the Korean War and become one of an elite photography crew winning awards and honorable mentions for his tours of duty. He became know as Elder Whittaker when he went to the Islands of Hawaii on his Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints mission. He learned a bit of the Hawaiian language and gained a love for the gentle and wild Polynesian culture. He was in the Islands when Kilauea first began to erupt in 1954. Hawaiian music and the endless oceans would calm any troubles he would encounter. The ocean was the most forgiving of nature for Harry. As he encouraged his children to embrace all life had to offer he taught them most about nature. The beautiful and the simple - to appreciate all that it had to offer. The ocean laid claim to his the deepest parts of him for it was at the ocean he could calm memories of war and concerns of the future. In the early 60’s Harry married Beverly Adams and began a family. Harry adopted Beverly’s two daughters, Julianne and Cynthia. Together Harry and Beverly had a son, Harry Adams Whittaker. They moved from where they were residing in Utah to Southern California. Little Harry would pass away from water on the brain before the age of two. This was hard on the family but soon after LaVonne Alexis was born; then Katheryn LeAnne, Andrea Lorraine and Harry Howarth making a house full of children and love. In the mid seventies Harry and Beverly went their separate ways and the children began the adventure of traveling from parent to parent. Harry made things exciting for the kids and always impressed upon them learning, finding answers to your questions, never giving up and creating out of what you have. Life long skills all have embraced in their own ways. In the eighties Harry traveled from Idaho to Utah to California to Arizona. Wherever the wind would take him. He loved life and wanted to embrace it! In the mid 80’s he met a wonderful woman name Manon and had found home. They lived for a brief time in Utah. Then moved to Sedona, Arizona and eventually retired in Yelm, Washington with Mt. Rainier as their window dressing. All the while studying, learning and living. The past 20 years in Washington has been a lifetime. Through illness and adventure Manon lovingly took care of a man with whom time was catching up with. Always by his side, she remains a precious gem in his and his family’s life. With distance separating him from his children, marriage bridged the gap. One of his daughters married and relocated to Issaquah, WA and with that the children, now adults, have been happily able to have a closer relationship with their Dad. A gift of time before illness would steal him away from us all, yet only in the flesh. He has and will have a permanent place in our hearts.