HARRY EARL FELTHAUSER May 30, 1927 – Sept. 19, 2024
Harry Earl Felthauser was born to Frederick William and Hazel Stephens Felthauser on May 30, 1927, in Norfolk, Nebraska. When Harry was three, his mother became severely ill and was unable to take care of the younger children. Frederick took Harry to live with his aunt and uncle (Esta Stephens and Charles Guy Taylor) in Edgar, Nebraska. They became his parents and his cousins, Lorraine and Eula, became his sisters in reality if not on paper. In trying to survive the depression, the family moved to Arkansas, back to Nebraska, and then to Twin Falls, Idaho.
Approaching the end of Harry’s 9th grade year in Twin Falls, Guy was offered a painting job on the military base in San Diego. Harry had to make a choice: go to San Diego or go live with his cousin (sister) Eula (Taylor) and her husband Joe McReynolds in Nebraska and work on the farm while going to school. Harry thought the farm sounded better than a city, so he headed back to Nebraska. While he was there his ability in math was shown when he was asked to teach the Algebra class when the math teacher had to return to working his farm.
One year of working on the farm was enough to convince Harry that he didn’t want to be a farmer. At the end of that school year, Guy, Esta and Harry all returned to Twin Falls, Idaho. Harry landed a job at Krengel’s Hardware, where he received training as a welder and welded turnbuckles for Navy ships. He worked 60-hour weeks during the summer and then worked the evening shift after school during the school year. Harry continued to work through his senior year while also receiving training as a machinist.
With graduation from high school and WWII still raging in the Pacific, Harry enlisted and was inducted into the Navy a few days before his 18th birthday. He was accepted into Radar Repair School and was in school near Chicago and at Monterrey and Treasure Island in California.
A chance visit to the University of California, Berkeley convinced Harry that we wanted to study there when discharged. After completing his studies in Physics, he worked at Naval Radiation Defense Lab at Hunter’s Point, San Francisco, CA and then at the Radiation Lab at UC Berkeley.
The best and most important result of the Navy bringing Harry to California, though, was meeting Donna Pemberton while at Berkeley. They met on a UC Hiking Club trip to the Pinnacles National Monument and Harry immediately thought he had met his wife. (Upon telling this to his roommate, the roommate skeptically asked: “Oh, really? Does she know about this?” Harry replied: “Well… not yet”). After dating while studying and working in the Bay Area, they married on June 29, 1952. Three months later they had moved to Los Alamos, NM, where Harry started his new job at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory.
Harry and Donna had a deep love for each other and for their children. On landing in Los Alamos, they soon also gained a love for the mountains of New Mexico. What seemed to be a short (few years) adventure to the wilds of New Mexico and then return to California turned into a lifelong New Mexican adventure. Harry and Donna enjoyed many activities (hiking, camping, backpacking, skiing, ice skating, rafting, swimming, etc.) and shared these with their children who also gained a love for the outdoors. Harry and Donna enjoyed being part of their children’s activities like scouting, band, and swimming. They also tried to include their children in their other interests like art, music, gardening, science and building or repairing things.
Harry was talented in mind and in his hands. He had a long and respected career as a Physicist, but he was also a skilled welder, machinist, auto repairman and house builder. Harry built the family home doing most of the work himself.
He often marveled at the trajectory of his life: from a depression era child, living at times (during the Arkansas years) much as people had lived a hundred years earlier, to seeing the instruments he had helped design and build being placed onto satellites and launched into space.
In retirement, he pursued a lifelong desire to learn to fly. On earning his private pilot’s license, he joined the Civil Air Patrol and took part in border surveillance and search and rescue missions. He also joined the Experimental Aircraft Association and began to build his own plane. Although never completed, it provided many happy hours of work.
Harry was preceded in death by his wife (of 69+ years) Donna Pemberton Felthauser; his children James and Jana; his ‘adoptive’ parents Guy and Esta Taylor; his birth parents Frederick and Hazel Felthauser; his sister Phyllis (John), and brothers Steven, Vernon (Sara), Lloyd (Lou) and Edward; and his ‘adoptive’ sisters Lorraine (Dick) Wise and Eula (Joe) McReynolds.
He is survived by his children, Kathy, Mark, and Roger; his daughter-in-law Karen; his grandchildren Erik, Jason (Bel), Dana, Alisha, and Kyle (Clara); and his great-grandson Abe.
Service and Burial for Harry and Donna with Military Honors for Harry will be held on Monday, November 4, 2024, at 1100AM at the Santa Fe National Cemetery. All who knew Harry or Donna are welcome to attend.
Harry Earl Felthauser and wife Donna. Courtesy photo