Dr. Arthur Manning Harwood

1918 - 2015

Arthur Manning Harwood, 97, died on Oct. 22, 2015, in Athens, Ga. He had been in failing health for the last few months of his life.
He was born Oct. 18, 1918, in Farson, a son of Manning and Lela Harwood. He graduated from Hedrick High school in 1935 and attended the University of Iowa, where he graduated with a bachelor's and doctor of medicine degree in 1942. On July 4, 1942, he married Nyta Pauline Latimer. After graduation he served in the United States Army in the Pacific theatre until the end of the war, leaving the service as a captain. (A belated highlight of his distinguished medical service was receiving his medals, including the Purple Heart and Bronze Star, from Congressman Paul Broun in 2013). He practiced medicine in Iowa (Sigourney and Waverly) before moving to Athens, Ga., in 1973, where he was a physician at the Student Health Center until his retirement in 1986.
His wife Nyta died in 2004 after 61 years of marriage. Surviving are five of their seven children (Laura Phelps died in 2007 and Kate Harwood in 2014): Donald (Marco Aurelio Barros), of Tampa, Fla., John (Kathryn Grossman), of State College, Pa., Ann Harwood-Nuss (Robert Nuss), of Jacksonville, Fla., George (Rita), of Athens, and David (Cindy), of Montgomery, Ala. He is also survived by his sister Gladys Hebert, of Honolulu, Hawaii, as well as 10 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents, his brother, Willard Dean Harwood, of San Diego, and his sister Dorothy Dockendorff, of Burlington.
Arthur was a proud exemplar of the "greatest generation." He practiced medicine in wartime and peace, in small towns and at a major university. He was very proud of having delivered more than 2,500 babies in Waverly, but his life as a physician and citizen was broad and deep. He was president of the school board as well as the public library in Waverly. He and Nyta were proud owners of one of the early RVs, and they took their large brood of children as well as their in-laws on several cross-country trips to the Seattle's World Fair, to Florida, and to several national parks. Arthur was a prodigious reader until the last months of his life, and his favorite topics were American history and science. He was a very skillful bridge player until his last year of life. For someone who grew up on an Iowa farm during the Depression, he enjoyed his travels to most parts of the world – Europe, Africa, and Russia had many highlights for him, and he loved to share his memories of these trips.
A memorial service will be held at Lord and Stephens Funeral Home in Athens, on Nov. 17. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to the World Wildlife Fund.