Marilyn J Harter

On February 10, 2017, the sharp and vibrant 93 year-old Marilyn Jeanne Harter went to be with her lord. She was born in Fort Wayne, IN to Charles and Myrth Smith, but spent much of her life raising a family and giving back to her beloved community of Chandler, AZ. She is survived by her son Peter (Candace), a retired educator in Durango, CO and daughter Carrie Rice (Casey-deceased) a 1st grade teacher in Marble Falls, TX. Husband Raymond “Duke” Harter passed away in Chandler, AZ in 1992 and her middle son Matthew, an international petroleum engineer, passed away in Singapore in 2013. She has six grandchildren scattered from Portland, OR to Washington, DC.

In 1945 she married WWII Air Force pilot Lt. Raymond Harter and in1946 the young couple moved to Tucson, AZ where Duke attended the University of Arizona on the G.I. Bill. In 1952 they settled in near-by Chandler, AZ where Jeanne embraced her roll as wife, mother, involved community leader, and a dedicated member of the First Presbyterian Church. In 2007 the Chandler Historical Society honored Jeanne as an “Outstanding Woman of Chandler”.

In 2010, Jeanne left her beloved Arizona to be near her daughter in Texas. Up to her passing she continued her life-long passions of quilting, letter writing, and enthusiastically beating friends and family in the word game “Scrabble.” Fittingly, we take delight in knowing she won the last Scrabble game she played in convincing fashion against son Peter and daughter Carrie days before her passing!

A family, graveside service near Ft. Wayne, IN will be planned for this summer. She is much loved and is greatly missed.