John Wallace (Jack) Harding, 97, passed away on June 8, 2015 at the Madison Avenue Retirement Center on Bainbridge Island.
Jack was born on Feb. 3, 1918 at Swedish Hospital in Seattle to Edward Percy Harding and Ella Avis Walton Harding.
He graduated from West Seattle High School in 1936 and then went on to Whitman College in Walla Walla, where he graduated in 1940 with a bachelor of arts degree in English.
During his freshman year at Whitman, he met Elizabeth Fairbank, a senior majoring in music, and they were married on April 5, 1941. They were married for 64 years until her death in 2005. Jack and Elizabeth had two children, John Wallace Jr., born on Aug. 2, 1943 and Janet Elizabeth, born on Feb. 15, 1947.
Upon graduation, Jack went to work at the University of Washington as a buyer in the purchasing department and was promoted to assistant purchasing agent in 1941.
Jack joined the Navy in 1942 and spent the war as an intelligence officer stationed at various Navy and Coast Guard bases from New York to South Carolina.
After the war, he returned to Seattle and the University of Washington where he worked in various positions including director of the physical plant and assistant vice president for business and finance until he retired in 1972.
Upon retirement, Jack and Elizabeth sold their home in the View Ridge area of Seattle and remodeled the family summer cabin on Bainbridge Island and moved permanently to the island.
After retirement, Jack and Elizabeth enjoyed weekend visits from their grandsons, annual trips to Maui to visit friends and car trips around the country to visit relatives. They also enjoyed foreign travel to England, Spain, Italy, France, Turkey, Mexico and Thailand.
Jack enjoyed boating for most of his life and usually owned a small runabout for fishing and water skiing.
In 1982, he and Elizabeth bought a 36-foot powerboat, named Astarte, which had enough room to feed and sleep four people for extended periods. It was this boat that allowed them to explore the San Juan Islands, Canada’s Gulf Islands, Desolation Sound and to take off for four months in 1986 and cruise to Alaska with Elizabeth’s sister Janet Thompson and her husband Reg. When boating became a larger part of their lives, they became active in the Poulsbo Yacht Club and the Agate Pass Sail and Power Squadron where they made many new friends.
Whitman College remained near and dear to Jack and Elizabeth throughout their lives. They attended the Whitman Senior Alumni College most summers until failing health precluded travel.
Jack was preceded in death by his wife, Elizabeth, his sister Grace (Lesher), his brother Edward and Janet Thompson, his companion from 2006 until her death in 2013.
He is survived by his son John Jr. (Phyllis) of Bainbridge Island; his daughter Janet (Gary Rambo) of Seattle; grandson Louis Rambo (Lindsey) of Los Angeles, California; grandson Charles Rambo (Emily) of Olympia; step-grandson Joseph Rambo (Jennifer) of Sisters, Oregon; step-great-granddaughter Courtney Rambo of Bellingham; sister-in-law Martha Fairbank of Durham, North Carolina; sister-in-law Janette Harding of Friendswood, Texas; and many nieces and nephews.
Services are planned for the end of summer.
