Lanice S. Harden

Lanice Strickland Harden, died at the age of 63 at home in Gotha on June 13, 2014 from complications due to diabetes. Born Jan. 3, 1951 in Jacksonville to Lantis and Bernice Strickland, she lived in Okeechobee and graduated with honors from Okeechobee High School. She attended Indian River Community College where she met and married Orie Lee Hodges in 1969. That year, the couple accepted a call to Fondulac, Wisconsin for the Church of God. They were married 10 years and had three children.

Lanice and the children settled in Ft. Pierce and she graduated from Florida Atlantic University with a Bachelor of Arts in Education in 1980. While attending school, she worked as a teacher at Palm Vista Christian Church of God School and a school for the disabled in Jupiter Fl. She often said her first year teaching was the best.

Lanice relocated to Central Florida with the children and taught school for the Church of God in Orlando and Longwood where she met and married Tom Harden. They served in the Church of God and then on staff with the Windermere Union Church as Choir director, organist and Christian Education director. They had two sons, Kenneth Joshua, and Kyle Justin.

She then worked in Orange County Schools for 24 years, first at Mollie E. Ray Elementary where she was awarded Teacher of the Year in 1994, then at Lakeville Elementary, awarded again in 2004 before taking medical retirement in 2009.

She is survived by her husband Tom Harden, son Jason Lee and Holley Hodges, Houston, Texas, Joella Renee Hodges, Orlando, Jeunesse Marie and Jamel Prichett, Ft. Pierce, Kenneth Joshua Harden, Gotha Fl., Kyle and Audrey Harden, Clermont Fl., 17 grandchildren and two great grandchildren, her mother, Bernice Strickland of Bradenton Fl., brother, Leslie and Mary Lou Strickland of Stratford, Conn., sister, Lani Robin and John Hyslop of Port Saint Lucie Fl., Rhonda Lynn and Dr. Joseph Pecoraro of Bradenton Fl..

A funeral service will be held on Saturday June 21, 2014 at 10:00 am at Ocoee Church of God.