Reed Brown Harker

Reed Brown Harker, 81, died peacefully at home on Saturday, October 13, 2007 surrounded by his loving wife and all of their children. He was born November 17, 1925 in Cardston, Alberta, Canada to Elmer Harker and Clara Vilate Brown. After the death of his mother in 1932 he lived with extended family until his father remarried in 1936 and they moved to the San Francisco Bay Area of California. He attended both Brigham Young University and the University of California at Berkeley, graduating with several degrees in physics, mathematics, and engineering. He also served in the United States Navy during this time, stationed in the Philippines at the close of World War II and as the communications officer on a destroyer off the coast of North Korea during the Korean Conflict.



Reed married Doris June Miner on January 24, 1951 in the Mesa Arizona Temple. They shared fifty-six wonderful years and enjoyed backpacking and traveling, studying good books together and serving in their church; they loved to be together.



His career as an electronic engineer took him from aerospace to biomedical research, beginning at Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California where he worked on telecommunications for the early exploration of the moon and Mars. In 1970 he and his family moved to Salt Lake City where he administered a research laboratory at the University of Utah for the study of the artificial heart. In 1984 he and his wife moved to the University of Michigan to organize the Michigan Research Corporation, and from there they went to Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico from which they both retired in 1987, and returned to their home in Salt Lake City. They moved to Springville in 2004 to be near their children. Reed and Doris June treasured the relationships they developed with friends in all of the places they lived.



Reed loved the people of France, where he served three missions for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, one in his youth and two with his sweetheart after their retirement.



He was a quiet, gentle man of wisdom, intelligence, and integrity, with a great sense of humor, which he shared to the day he died.



He is survived by his wife and four children; Alan (Stephanie) Harker and Nancy (Dane) Calkins both of Springville, Janice King of Clayton, California, and Jay Harker of Broomfield, Colorado, thirteen grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren, the youngest of whom he sent to us just two days after his passing. He is also survived by his two sweet sisters, Rhean (Vernon) Olson and Dorothy (Eugene) Bramhall, both of Provo.



Funeral Services will be held Friday, October 19th at 11:00 a.m. in the Hobble Creek 9th Ward Chapel, 495 S. Canyon Rd. in Springville. A viewing will be held at Wheeler Mortuary, 211 E. 200 South in Springville, on Thursday evening from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. and at the 9th Ward Chapel one hour before the service. The family would like to express their thanks to Dr. Marc Penrod, to Mary Ann of Hearts for Hospice, and to the members of Reed and Doris June's ward for their kindness and care.