With love from Harry's "Babe"

Harry and I met on line almost 12 years ago, I instant messaged him because I thought his screen name (I forget how he spelled it) meant "I'm still single" so right away I started chatting with him. A few months after talking on line and on the phone, we finally met at the KOA camp ground in Watsonville CA. I drove a school bus at that time and one field trip I drove on, was to San Francisco. So Harry met me there (I think he took and extended lunch that day) and we took our own field trip to the Japanese Gardens.

Harry and I spent as much time as possible together, if he wasn't coming with me on field trips he would meet me at the College I was going to and sit in on my classes, one being tennis which the instructor let Harry play too. It wasn't long before he asked me to marry him. One year after we met, we got married on May 30th 1999.

After living in Aromas, CA for 13 years I picked up 3 of my kids since Matt just graduated high school he stayed behind. We moved to Concord, CA close to his family and job. Harry continued working for the Veterans Affairs Regional Office in Oakland, CA until 2003 when he left the VA and we moved to Washington State. Here we lived together in Olympia.

All of our kids lived pretty close by, David moved from Florida with Kristina and Kimberly and Everett moved from North Carolina. It meant a lot to Harry that we were almost all back together again. Matt and his wife Katie live in Santa Cruz, CA but were always close to our hearts and thought of. We took many trips back and forth to California, driving with our dogs, and a couple times with our cat too so we could visit with family. We had a good time visiting with the cousins, aunts, and uncles and the Varian reunion and enjoyed dancing together.

Harry loved Washington, he always enjoyed camping and fishing and would barbecue any chance he got. The snow in the winter was exciting, I'm not too sure he enjoyed shoveling the drive way this past winter though. But he did enjoy seeing Joshua play in the snow. Aside from the snow, we also loved going to the beach together. One time we went to visit Kimberly in North Carolina and they had a thunderstorm that evening. We were lucky that earlier that day we were able to go into the warm water before the rain came down.

At one point Harry decided he was going to have a rock garden so he took pride in his hunt for rocks! We could be driving down a road and have to stop to pick up rocks, it was exciting to run across roads trying to bring big rocks back to the car, we even tried using plastic bags at one point and of course we laughed as the bags broke, then there was the wheel barrel Harry would gladly push. All this hard work and what happened? Harrys Chinese rose bush took off and covered half his garden of rocks and my daisies covered the rest...

Harry enjoyed painting, playing rummy, going to the casino for "work," doing little fix it projects around the house, and taking his dogs for a walk. His favorite dish to make was fried rice, I never could make it like him. He loved to eat spaghetti, and oh can't forget steak!

The very first time we cut down our Christmas tree was a special time for all of us because it was the first Christmas everyone was together.

I could go on with much detail about Harry and our life together but I will close with this: Harry had a gentle soul, he always wanted everyone to be happy and tried with all his might to make that happen... He always put family first and loved everyone of us. Harry loved with all his heart our grandson Joshua and would smile so big when Josh would come up and give him kisses. Bapah is what Joshua called him, they would share banana's, grapes, split tuna sandwiches for lunch and both found out they loved chicken noodle soup!

Harry loved his step children and always had his own way of showing it. July 25th, 2009 Harry got to walk Kimberly down the isle!! He waited for this very happy day for a long time.... I would say that was the happiest day of his life but I'm sure the day Kimberly was born was the happiest!

My love for Harry will always continue, He will always have a special place in my heart. For now I take each day as it comes with great sadness and yet happiness, I never will allow myself to let go. As I see Joshua grow I will always think of Harry and how proud he would be. I will be sad but remember that Harry is at peace, his cancer can not hurt him anymore, and his pain is forever gone! I love Harry and miss him so very much, and I'm glad I can't say that without crying because the tears are welcomed as it's from loving him so much.

My dear Harry, I will always talk to you and love you.