Arthur "Bud" Leroy Harker

Arthur LeRoy Harker, 85, of Shelley, passed away Wednesday January 26, 2011 at home surrounded by his family.

He was born on March 5, 1925 to Arthur LeRoy and Florence Winters Harker.  He was born in Shelley and attended school there.

He helped his father and grandfather, Hyrum, on the farm as a youth where he learned to work hard.  When he was a young man he ran a pack train out of the mountains from a mine to the road near Howe where the ore he brought out could be loaded on trucks and hauled to a smelter.  On one trip out of the mountains a message was waiting for him from his parents, he had been drafted.

He served in the United States Army in the European Theater until the end of the war.

He returned home and met and married Helen Ruth Andersen from Nyssa, Oregon, who was in nurses training in Idaho Falls.  They were married June 8, 1948 in the Idaho Falls LDS Temple.  Together they had eight children.

“Bud” as he was called worked for many years for the U & I Sugar Company and when it closed he went to work for the Site until his retirement.

He is survived by his wife, Helen Harker of Shelley; children, Robert (Mary) Harker of Chubbuck; Marilyn (Dale) Nichols of Orem, Utah; Richard (Debbie) Harker of Provo, Utah; Darla (Bryce) Johnson of Saratoga Springs, Utah; Melanie (Chris) McNeil of Riverton, Wyoming; 25 grandchildren and 59 great grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his parents, two sisters, two sons, Darwin and Jonathan, a daughter, Alise, a grandson, Nathan Harker, and a great granddaughter Kaitlyn Marvel.

Funeral Services will be 11:00 A.M. Saturday, January 29, 2011 at Nalder Funeral Home (110 West Oak) in Shelley with Bishop Jeff Cox conducting. The family will receive friends Friday evening from 6:00 till 8:00 P.M. and Saturday morning 9:30 till 10:40 A.M. at the funeral home.  Interment will be in the Shelley Hillcrest Cemetery.

Special thanks to Amy and Dusty for the care they gave grandpa.