Mary Ruth Harker

Mary Ruth Harker, 91, died at her home, in Heron, Montana on Saturday December 14, 2013. Memorial services will be conducted at 1:00pm (MST) Saturday, December 21st, in the Heron Methodist Church in Heron, Montana. Pastor G W “Bill” Warren and Pastor Amanda Appelhans will be officiating with inurnment in the Heron Cemetery. Mary Ruth Foot was born, in Kalispell, Montana on October 2, 1922 the daughter of Guy K and Dorothy Foot. She attended school in Kalispell and then the University of Montana, in Missoula, where she graduated magna cum laude in 1944. She married John Harker, whom she met at the university, on April 25, 1944 in Missoula, MT. She taught at the Noxon High School while he served with the US Army during WW II. They moved permanently to the Harker family farm, at Heron, Montana in 1949. Mary committed her life to the service of others; to her family, to her country, to the community and to the Lord. She was a volunteer observer for the National Weather Service. She received numerous awards for this, culminating in the Thomas Jefferson award and the Benjamin Franklin award for 55 years of service. She was the Pastor of the Whitepine Community Methodist Church for over 30 years and was inducted into the Order of Caleb by the Yellowstone Conference. Mary is survived by her sisters Alice Dettwiler and Elizabeth Merritt and her brother Frank (and wife Miriam) Foot; her sister in law Alma Foot; her children Laura Peterson, Margaret Harker, Bill (and Daisy) Harker, Katherine (and Scott) Benning, Robert Harker, and Phoebe Harker-Rivera; her grandchildren Jennifer (and Nicholas) Dillenbeck, Carolyn Harker, Cuauhtemoc and Frida Rivera; and her great grandson Hunter Dillenbeck. She was preceded in death by her husband John Harker, her parents, her brothers Charles and John Foot, her brother in law Art Dettwiler, and her son in law Richard Peterson. Memorials may be made to the Whitepine Community Methodist Church, in memory of Mary Harker.