Robert Eugene Harford

Bob and Valerie met on August 16, 1975 in Hawthorne, CA. They had become neighbors at the same apartment complex when she moved in with a friend. He was already sharing the apartment next door with his friend, John. Bob had introduced himself earlier in the afternoon at poolside. When he was spotted down at the laundry facility, Valerie gathered some items and joined him. While their laundry was being done, Bob showed her how to play billiards in the bonus room next door. When their laundry was done, he invited her over and they talked all night long. He invited her out to breakfast at a local restaurant then they returned to get ready to go to their respective workplaces. About a month later, Bob asked her to move into another apartment with him (much to John's dismay) and marry him. It must have been love at first sight! They got married on Valentine's Day, February 14,1976. They eventually moved to a 3-story apartment in Redondo Beach, CA with the top floor being a sundeck. It was there that they started their lifelong journeys being forever home, pet parents to both cats and dogs, particularly Yorkies.

Bob worked for Xerox servicing copiers while Valerie continued attending Long Beach State University to get her master's degree and teaching credentials.

In late 1980, Bob took a position with Wang Laboratories in Northern California switching to the servicing of computers and got an apartment in Concord to commute to Emeryville every day. Valerie had already accepted a job at Marymount College in Palos Verdes, CA teaching English as a Second Language after gaining experience at her alma mater. As a result, they started a long distance relationship which really hadn't been heard of at that time between Bellflower, CA where her parents resided and Concord. Every visit was like dating again...starting with eating dinner at the revolving rooftop, Equinox restaurant and lounge in San Francisco, attending the Oakland Ballet Company's The Nut Cracker Story at the Paramount Theater, plus seeing George Benson and Al Jarreau in concert on New Year's Eve. There was a lot of traveling back and forth sightseeing and going on AAA Triptik adventures along the California

to Oregon to Washington coastline. They also discovered Reno and Lake Tahoe as both summer and winter resorts during college breaks. But Bob never forgot to venture back down to So Cal in 1981 for Valerie's high school reunion held in Anaheim.

By their 10th anniversary, stay tuned for additional posted comments.

Please feel free to contribute a remembrance of Bob for the period of time In The Middle...January 1983 - December 2013, for when he was still in California to when he returned to his home state of Ohio.

For the 12 years At The End...January 2014 - September 2025

Robert Eugene Harford, born in the month of July 1952, passed away just before dusk on Sunday, September 14, 2025. Bob had just recently turned 73 years old. Like his older brother Ken and younger brother Tom, who had passed before him, he was a Cancer, and proved to be the most compatible at first sight with his wife, Valerie, a Taurus. He was the fifth son born in Springfield, Ohio of Harold and Marguerita Harford. He is survived by brother Rod in Tennessee and golf buddy brother, Don in Ohio. Like his brother Rick who moved to Florida and sister Mary who moved to California, he eventually moved away from Ohio but to North Carolina, which he came to like so much, it being near the ocean, when he traveled for business. Bob and his wife settled in Shallotte halfway between Wilmington, North Carolina and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina where he got to enjoy its warmer weather for almost a dozen years in (semi) retirement.

It had become a yearly ritual to fly his brother Don, a Navy vet, down to tour the USS North Carolina Battleship Memorial in Wilmington between golf outings. Their visits together gave Bob both a reprieve and eventual weaning off of DIY home improvement projects as Bob and Val's staycation drew closer to its re-planned completion in 2025. The garage had become Bob's workshop and tool haven from which the majority of the house had been totally renovated in 2021 - 2024, to his engineering perfection, after

completing landscaping in the years prior. When Val finally retired, they had bought a RV, added a Jeep toadie, and took trips throughout the Carolinas. Bob then took the opportunity to visit with his brothers in Florida and Tennessee despite the pandemic, followed by KOA hopping to Missouri to see his friend, John who he had known for almost 50 years at the time, and adopt Miss Lilly, an older Shih Tzu for Val. He continued going on RV trips like to Cape Hatteras and New Bern, taking cruises, enjoying the coastal waterways, and hanging out on the patio with his adopted cats.

Bob's very first sign of a heart condition showed towards the end of 2014: Left Ventricular Hypertrophy (LVH). Although it had been continually and increasingly treated, Bob developed over time congestive heart conditions and passed from end-stage heart failure. Per Bob's final wishes, there will be no funeral service but he will be cremated for a very nice, Heartfelt Gold metal urn.

Online condolences may be made at www.shallottefunerals.com

White Funeral and Cremation Service, Shallotte Chapel