Laura Duke Reuther lived a life of adventure with very few unchecked boxes at her passing. Born 9/14/39 in Louisville, KY to Leslie G. and Laura Reuther, she grew up in a traditional faith based family in the south ultimately moving to Nashville, TN. She earned an undergraduate degree at Randolph-Macon College, and then won a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship scholarship to attend graduate school at UC Berkeley where she studied Philosophy. Living in Berkeley, California was a culture shock her for her but also a new source of energy and excitement.
Upon completion of her studies for a Masters in Philosophy, she was informed she would make a highly qualified executive assistant. This was unsatisfying as a career option, so she left without submitting her Master’s Thesis. Fortunately, during her studies, she met her husband Edward T. Harrison, Jr. (Tom), and they had two much loved children, Laura Ward and Edward Harrison. After a few years, Laura and Tom moved their family to a cattle ranch in Eagle Point, Oregon, and eventually Laura and Tom divorced.
Soon after their divorce, Laura Reuther’s next adventures began. These included working at the Southern Oregon VA rehabilitation center, being a phenomenal fundraiser for public television, producing institutional films on subjects like robotics, traveling for six months in India with just a backpack, living in Mexico (a stint on Jacque Cousteau’s boat), studying to become an Ordained Healing Minister in Texas, energy work with a group in Canada, a few winters in Montana (?!), and finally, returning to Southern Oregon!
Laura’s life was never dull! She was always fascinated with afterlife and reincarnation and believed while the body dies, the spirit lives on. At the end, she was eager to shed her “old body” and move on to her next iteration. We will miss her and be forever inspired by her zest for adventure and unique view on life! Her quest, memorialized in her manuscript “Chased by the Divine” continues. You can honor our Laura by making a donation to a charity of your choice, practicing random acts of kindness and/or doing something unusual for the first time! We’d like to thank her caregivers at Lakeland Senior Living and Asante Hospice of Talent who eased her journey.
Laura is survived by her children Laura Harrison Ward and Edward Gregory Harrison, Laura and Edward’s spouses, and her grandson Edward Thomas Harrison II.
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