Saturday, May 22, 4 PM Pasco Red Lion Hotel

Obituary

Robert John Harder (24 years) died peacefully in Seattle in the loving witness of his family after 16 months of coping with a rare, aggressive cancer.

Robert is survived by his parents John & Gretchen Harder (Kennewick), his sister Erika Harder (Seattle), his grandmothers Olive Harder (Kennewick) and Virginia Lea (Atlanta, GA), his loving aunts, uncles & awesome cousins, and his cherished teachers, mentors and many friends.

Robert graduated from the University of Idaho in December 2008. He earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with a minor in History as well as fulfilling the university’s Honors Program requirements. He graduated from Southridge HS (Kennewick) after having attended elementary school in Kahlotus, WA. Robert attended many sessions of the Satori Academic Summer Camp (EWU, Cheney, WA) first as a camper and later as a counselor. Robert was an avid seeker of knowledge, and his teachers in all venues encouraged the development of his inexhaustible, if not obnoxiously chipper, IMAGINATION.

Robert followed his interests with zestful participation: from classroom projects, marching bands, drama clubs, student groups, church activities, fencing club, part-time jobs, to facing each day of his illness with a tenacious optimism in spite of it all.

A memorial celebration is planned for Saturday May 22, 2010, at the Pasco Red Lion Hotel (Pasco, WA) at 4 PM. Robert wished to direct financial memorials towards support of the Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre, POB 8126, Moscow, ID 83843.

On the morning of May 6th, Rob called his mom into the room and said, “Mom, I think the cat died.” “What cat?” “This cat.” Dad came into the room and asked, “What was that?” to which Rob responded, “I was talking to Mom.”

Later, mom and dad had Rob’s uncle Hans go in to ask if Rob wanted to blow off his Cancer Clinic appointment and he said no. By the time they got to the clinic, he was unresponsive but received his last infusion of platelets and blood. Hospice provided transportation back to the apartment in the late afternoon. We were all together when his breathing slowed down and he finally came to rest at 9:50 pm.

Rob has left some instructions for the family and we will continue to update this blog with information about the memorial service(s).

And his beard is still better than yours.

Love,

Erika, John and Gretchen

Posts on this blog henceforth will be from Rob’s family.

Rob took a turn for the worse on Saturday, May 1. After yet another 103 degree fever in the morning, he was basically unresponsive for the rest of the day. He awoke around 8 pm demanding a calzone and a bowl of strawberries which were promptly furnished and he stayed awake and alert long enough to watch Tropic Thunder with his mom, dad, and (favorite) sib. Sunday was a long day of blood product infusions that didn’t give him the hoped-for energy boost. Monday, the Hospice nurse confirmed that he is showing signs of severe liver failure. His energy level and strength have decreased rapidly since then.

He is not in pain; he only wants to sleep. He still tries to take his pills and wants to keep up the fight. He’s been so strong and so optimistic throughout this period and we are very thankful for the time we have had with him. He is unable to respond to messages/texts/facebook/etc; please feel free to post your thoughts here.

Thank you all for the cards and packages and calls and thoughts and prayers; as the next changes happen, this is where the information will be.

for Robert Harder by his sister, Erika

the fifth floor

in the neighborhood

shutter-finger still works

the train kept a rollin'

yet another gorgeous sunset in Seattle: turns out I have cancer and I've been getting treatment on the West Side since late July.

coffee night

lake oncology

a week or two back I had to get transfused with extra platelets; while waiting, water leaks started appearing along the walls and on the floors in multiple rooms. turns out some work on an irrigation pipe caused a break and completely flooded Out-Patient Oncology on the afternoon I was there: all hail Robert Harder, First Admiral of Oncology!

Spokanistan!

last week I had the pleasure of assisting a local artist as she performed a major installation at the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture in Spokane, WA. what that means is that I spent two and a half days on that mobile orange scaffolding, pounding nails into the ceiling and tying bits of wire to them. surprisingly, my neck has not suffered at all-- other health issues have happily made up for this small bit of luck, though.



off hours, I stayed with some of my mom's friends-- who, happily, had this T-Rex to guard the car while I slept.



I spent alot of time at Auntie's and Boo Radley's in downtown, took myself out to dinner a couple times, and generally loafed about-- what follows are a few highlights of my lack of productivity.

this image is dedicated to Trade Channel ( "/2," on WoW servers everywhere).



and this next image is for my friend Windowdoom:



finally this is a gratuitous image of some frogs that Jen and I found at Fred Meyer while looking for flowers and pie.