Harriet Williams Uhalde

1921 - 2016

Harriet Williams Uhalde

9/11/21

12/10/16

Harriet was born on September 11, 1921 to Otto and Isabelle McKinnell Williams in Elko and lived in Nevada most of her life. She met her future husband, John Uhalde, at University of Nevada where both were in Chemistry together. He invited her to a Lambda Chi dance and the romance began. They married when he was home on leave and she followed him to Army bases and they finally settled in Reno after the War.

Harriet spent time being a Girl Scout leader, heading Pi Beta Phi events (a legacy that was shared by her daughters and granddaughters), reading, cooking, knitting, hunting, gardening and P.E.O. She accompanied her husband to many rural mines in the western states and hiked and explored with him.

When her two daughters went off to college, she took up oil painting which led to her signature style of painting with a palette knife. She perfected her technique by studying with local and visiting artists and by studying books. She was a long time member of the Artist's Co-Op and her paintings are enjoyed by many.

She enjoyed photographing all the wonderful Nevada landscapes and painted them with colors and clouds that are unparalleled. Her art radiated the same peaceful nature as Harriet. Her husband was trained to stop and take the appropriate pictures and adored her art.

They traveled to many States in the U.S. and abroad where she took more photos many of which were the inspiration for her paintings. She enjoyed sharing her talent teaching others her "palette knife technique", including her granddaughters and great granddaughter.

She was active with Twentieth Century Club, her garden club, sewing group, book club and bridge club (later called the lunch bunch when they no longer played bridge).

She spent much of her time with her family. She taught her daughters and many of her friends through example how to be a loving mother and role model. She attracted and intrigued her daughter's suitors with her cooking- especially her doughnut holes and shared her wisdom with family and friends. She had the opportunity to watch her great grandchildren grow into their teen years. She babysat Zachary for the first three years of his life and thought he could do no wrong. Thursday and Sunday dinners meant she could stay caught up with UNR student, Nicholas, to hear about college and his dream of becoming a vet; and Kaitlyn to hear about her driving and about high school. She proudly watched Todd pursue his dance career as a freshman at the University of Utah.

As a 72 year member of P.E.O. she has held many offices; including president several times and has been chairman of the state convention committee. She loved her time with her P.E.O. sisters.

Harriet and John enjoyed 59 years of marriage; most of it spent living among neighbors that they cherished in a home they built in 1955.

She is survived by her daughters and sons-in-law Jacqueline and Rich Starkweather and Dr. Marjorie Uhalde and John Lopez; granddaughters and their husbands Susan and Stephen Lani and Jennifer and Larry Hill; Greatgrandchildren Nicholas & Todd Lani and Kaitlyn & Zachary Hill and sister-in-law Irene Marich.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to P.E.O. Program for Continuing Education attn. JoAnn Arnoldsen, 10 Ambrose Circle, Reno, NV 89519.

A celebration of life will be held at the Nevada Museum of Art, 160 West Liberty Street at 3:30 pm December 21, 2016 with a reception to follow.