Harold Glen Drake

Harold was born in Anderson, Missouri. He was the second of seven children who grew up in a small, farming community during the Great Depression. During the summers of the 1930's and 40's, his father and uncles would make their way to California to work in the fields for extra income, and then they would return to Missouri. In 1946, Harold and his then new wife, Doris Shure-Drake, made their way to California to stay. They settled in Hughson and raised a family of 3 children.

When Harold first arrived to California, he worked in some construction jobs in Modesto and peach farming jobs throughout Hughson; but he eventually got hired on to Bergman Farms of Hughson, and he worked in peaches and almonds with them for 36 years. In his extra time, he worked on his own peach & nectarine farm. He LOVED agriculture! He loved to talk about fruit, and he even treasured long drives around the county just to look at the fruit and nut trees!

In the late 1980's, Harold opened a fruit stand in front of his home called, "Drake's Nectarines." Of course, it was mostly only one kind of fruit that he had for sale, but he acquired a lot of customers, as well as regular. He really enjoyed meeting the people and talking about farming from year to year. Randy Bergman of Bergman Farms exclaims, "Harold had a vision of what a fruit stand could be. There weren't very many fruit stands around the Hughson area that had been established yet, so this was kind of a foreseen idea. Here he was, a small farmer with a four acre ranch, trying to make it generate some extra income. He really worked hard at it. For what it was in selling only one type of a commodity, he was successful."

Another passion that Harold possessed, when he was younger, was working with wood. He designed and crafted doll houses, mirrors, gumball machines, children's wagons from old, found wagon or baby carriage wheels, and the list could go on and on. He was a very intelligent and ingenious person in how he could get an idea in his head for a wood project. To begin with, he would not draw out his plan or really sketch it much, and he would not write anything down. Yet, he could just start building his image from scratch and not make any mistakes! This same type of intelligence, in thinking out his strategies, prevailed in taking cars apart and putting them back together again without any parts left behind, or instructions read--and yes, it was always done correctly!

When everyone else in the family would often get frustrated on assembling or repairing a project, Harold was the handyman, go-to guy. He was very constructive at knowing how to apply himself and think things through within an idea, or mission, without giving up or getting discouraged. He was an easygoing, talented, man; and a great inspiration for his family to keep on trying in everything that they endeavored to do.

Harold's wife of 67 years, Doris Faye Drake, sadly preceded him in death in 2013. He will be missed by his children, Dennis Drake, of Ceres, Linda Casey, of Cathys Valley, and Debra Amarante, of Modesto; 5 grandchildren and 8 great grandchildren.

A graveside funeral will be held on Monday, June 30th, at 10:00a.m.at Lakewood Memorial Park.

Arrangements under the direction of Lakewood Funeral Home - FD1392, Hughson, CA.