David George Harms

1954 - 2024

David George Harms

1954-2024

A Celebration of Life for David George Harms will be on Friday, July 25, 2025, at St. Martin de Porres parish, at 1119 Bancroft St., Toledo, Ohio, with a 2:00 p.m. visitation and service at 3:00 p.m.

David died in a vehicle accident Sunday, December 22, 2024, while moving from Richmond, Virginia, to Toledo. He had reestablished friendships with high school friends in the Toledo area and looked forward to spending time with them and with his area cousins.

David was born March 12, 1954, to Donald Harms Sr. and Ruth (Ozzie) Harms in Bowling Green, Ohio, and was raised in Elmore, Ohio. He attended Woodmore High School where he developed his love of Spanish through four years of study. David graduated in 1972, as Valedictorian of his class, and attended the Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, graduating with a degree in Spanish. He then completed his Masters and PhD in Spanish Literature at the University of Michigan, researching for his thesis in Barcelona, Spain, and Cusco, Peru.

David started his career at Cincinnati Milacron in Cincinnati, Ohio, as their South American customer relations manager. He moved to Houston to teach Spanish at a prep school, then to Kansas City as the Director of Development for the Folly Theater. After short stays in Portland, Oregon, and Tucson, Arizona, David settled in Richmond, Virginia, as a Professor of Spanish at Randolph-Macon College.

After teaching for 20 years, David was able to fulfill some of his lifelong dreams: hiking the month-long pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago in Spain, teaching two years in Venezuela then two years at the Uruguayan American School in Montevideo, Uruguay, hiking/camping in Shenandoah National Park, and bicycling across Pennsylvania on the Great Allegheny Passage. He had plans for further adventures in Alaska, Europe and South America.

David looked forward each year to the annual Harms family reunion in Bowling Green, Ohio, and was especially close with the Fruth cousins in North Carolina. He visited and enjoyed the company of his aunt in Fredericksburg, Virginia, brothers in Iowa and Missouri, and nephews and nieces in Iowa, Illinois, Colorado and Texas. He was an accomplished pianist/organist and enjoyed taking painting classes where he specialized in portraits and still life. David is survived by two brothers, Don (Birdie) and Doug, four nephews, six nieces, and 30+ cousins.

Those planning to attend his Celebration of Life are encouraged to wear light and colorful summer clothes to celebrate his life joyously. (There is no air conditioning in the parish.) He will be buried at the Wood County Memorial Gardens, in Bowling Green, at 1:30 p.m., on Saturday, July 26th.

David was a good son, brother, cousin and friend. He was loved by many and will be dearly missed.