Arthur LeRoy Harker

Arthur LeRoy Harker, 85, of Shelley, Idaho, passed away Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2011, at home surrounded by his family.

He was born March 5, 1925, to Arthur LeRoy and Florence Winters Harker. He was born in Shelley and attended school there.

He helped his father and grandfather, Hyrum, on the farm as a youth, where he learned to work hard. When he was a young man, he ran a pack-train out of the mountains from a mine to the road near Howe where the ore he brought out could be loaded on trucks and hauled to a smelter. On one trip out of the mountains, a message was waiting for him from his parents; he had been drafted.

He served in the United States Army in the European Theater until the end of the war.

He returned home and met and married Helen Ruth Andersen from Nyssa, Ore., who was in nurses training in Idaho Falls. They were married June 8, 1948, in the Idaho Falls LDS Temple. Together they had eight children.

"Bud," as he was called, worked for many years for the U&I Sugar Co., and when it closed, he went to work for the site until his retirement.

He is survived by his wife, Helen Harker of Shelley; children, Robert (Mary) Harker of Chubbuck, Idaho, Marilyn (Dale) Nichols of Orem, Utah, Richard (Debbie) Harker of Provo, Utah, Darla (Bryce) Johnson of Saratoga Springs, Utah, and Melanie (Chris) McNeil of Riverton, Wyo.; 25 grandchildren; and 59 great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his parents; two sisters; two sons, Darwin and Jonathan; a daughter, Alise; a grandson, Nathan Harker; and a great-granddaughter, Kaitlyn Marvel.

Funeral services will be at 11 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 29, at Nalder Funeral Home, 110 W. Oak St. in Shelley, with Bishop Jeff Cox officiating. The family will receive friends from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. today, Jan. 28, and from 9:30 a.m. to 10:40 a.m. Saturday at the funeral home. Interment will be in Shelley Hillcrest Cemetery.

Special thanks go to Amy and Dusty for the care they gave Grandpa.

Condolences can be sent to the family at www.nalderfuneralhome.com.