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Harry Eccleston Obituary
This obituary was originally published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
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2 Entries
Jerry Cardarelli
July 13, 2010
I'll will forever remember Uncle Harry as an Indiana Jones.
He was one my favorite mentors, a person of great wisdom, with a sharp sense of humor, a thrill seeker always pushing hard for another hiking, white water rafting, diving, off roading or caving adventure.
He was a fellow Toyota Land Cruiser enthusiast, an Audi Quattro need for speed racer, a lover of world travel with Mexico, New Zealand and the Olympia mountains on his top 10 list, a patient landscaper, a photographer and slide show presenter.
At work I have no doubt he was a human resource anger defusing specialist, an attention to detail dba quality control fanatic, a navy pilot who never had any problems telling of his story flipping over a biplane on the runway while in training.
I loved his vast depth and knowledge of history. His story of being a part owner of a small gold mine in Mexico which he always said was only rich in it's name - not in production of gold.
He became a bi lingual spanish speaker, an archaeologic dreamer and a member of "the team of 5" with whom..... he'd humbly mentioned in passing ... developed the pop top soda can with "that genius Ernie" at Continental Can Co.
http://web.mit.edu/invent/iow/fraze.html
All of this, while unmistakably grand and impressive, would not be his focus of advice to me on what the most valuable strength in life is. Family.
He was a passionate, loving, protective and devoted husband to my Aunt Ruth whom he worshipped, while in tandem a very proud father of his son David.
When speaking of his granddaughter Chloe his eyes lit up like he had finally found gold in his long ago abandoned Mexican mine and he spoke of her as if she was the little princess he had always dreamed of. He loved to play tennis with her and know she was a natural at sports.
Anne Thompson had unexpectedly helped him complete his full circle of life. He told me that her bringing up Chloe to be such a star completed his final challenge of making ALL of his goals in life to come true.
I will hold locked in my memories his soft spoken words of how undeniably fulfilling it was to have a family. How important it was to work your hardest to bring comfort, shelter, money and food to the table for that family. How important it was to take care of fellow family members with an unconditional love. And lastly, to keep your focus on achieving realistic goals to in turn, help give your family the ability to seize on opportunities to live their wildest dreams.
Calling him a great mentor does not give his teachings full justice. A brilliant worker every company seeks are not the full description of him. The words beloved Uncle do not fulfill the broad scope of what I can define in this small writing place.
The ultimate family man, which he embodied, is now seemingly a rarity in our modern world. He was a husband who couldn't go a minute in life, without thinking of his wife Ruth.
He craved and strove for the inexplicable joy that came with making "family" happy and enabling joy in their own lives as a result.
Harry was a shining example of a person that many so ignorantly miss out on in life, while the seemingly simple ability to immitate it is staring them right in the face.
Uncle Harry - Carpe Diem
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Tom Barrett
July 11, 2010
Harry was a great friend of my parents and I remember him as a warm and intelligent man. As a boy I was particularly impressed by his great interest in science fiction and his amazing collection of scifi books that covered the entire wall of his basement. To a young person in the 1970s, this was about as cool as it could get for an adult. I have nothing but fond memories of him and the many visits to our house by him and Ruth to visit my folks.
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