Obituary: Harp, Bernita J.
Age 95
HARP,
Bernita J.
(Age 95)
Passed away Wednesday, April 27, 2016 in Spokane, WA., from age related causes.
She was born February 14, 1921 in Benewah County, ID to B. U. and Easter (Burris) Arp from Tennessee.
She started grade school in the one room Andrew Springs County School.
Her teacher Noland asked her parents if she could live with her in the cottage behind the schoolhouse and she did.
The family moved to Latah County, Idaho near Palouse, WA.
Winters were cold with lots of snow, so during winters she worked for her room and board at the Baptist Sunday School.
Her senior year at Palouse High School she met her future husband Gordon Thomas.
He had returned from four years as a Marine with the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, China.
The couple had two children, Connie and Jim Thomas.
They opened Thomas Electric Company in Rosalia, WA and operated that until after his death in 1954.
They sold appliances, wired homes and area grain elevators, including General Mills.
In 1955, she married Harry Harp.
He helped raise her children, and later helped raise grandchildren and other children vacationing regularly on the farm in the Seltice area south of Tekoa.
The couple farmed from 1956 - 1975.
The couple lived at Rocky Point, ID for ten years, lived in Tekoa from 1986 - 2001, and moved to Spokane in 2002 where they have lived since.
Harry and Bernita wintered in Arizona and Palm Desert, California from 1970 - 2000.
While living in Spokane, Rosalia, and Tekoa, Bernita was active in P.T.A., the Rebecca Lodge, the Order of the Eastern Star, the Pythian Sisters, the Pine Creek Club, and local Bridge Clubs.
Her sunset years she spent living at Touchmark Retirement Community on the South Hill in Spokane.
She was very active and she believed “the more you can enrich others’ lives, the more your life will be enriched.
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Survivors include her husband Harry of Spokane; daughter Dauriel Delray of Tucson, AZ, son Jim Thomas of Aliso Viejo, CA; six grandchildren, ten great-grandchildren, and five great-great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by five brothers and three sisters.
A graveside service will be held Monday, May 2, 2016 at 2:00 P.M. at the I.O.O.F.
Evergreen Cemetery at Rosalia, WA.
Pastor Kathy Kramer will officiate at the service.
Memorial gifts may be given to the I.O.O.F.
Evergreen Cemetery in Rosalia, Washington, 99170.
Kramer Funeral Home of Tekoa, WA is handling the arrangements.