Thomas Joseph Harshman
Burial Details
Obituaries
Grand Junction Daily Sentinel page 6A Death Notice - August 14, 2019
Thomas J. Harshman, 91, Grand Junction, died Aug. 12, 2019, at LaVilla Grande Care Center. Services are pending. He was an attorney. Survivors include two sons, Robert C. of Grand Junction and Paul G. of Fruita; four grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. Memorial contributions to HopeWest Hospice, 3090B N. 12th St., Grand Junction, 81506.
The Daily Sentinel page 8A Obituary - September 18, 2019
Thomas Joseph Harshman February 16, 1928 - August 12, 2019 Early in the morning of August 12, 2019, T.J. Harshman, our beloved father, grandfather and uncle, was freed from his earthly bonds. Thomas Joseph Harshman (aka: Tom, or T.J.) was born on February 16, 1928, to a pioneer family at Cory, Colorado (a town named after his grandmother, Cora Harshman), Charles and Lilah Harshman. Tom spent a rich childhood growing up on the Harshman farm at Cory and later at a nearby farm by Austin, CO, where he and his older siblings, Gordon and Barbara, and younger brother, Rodney, played nearly all sports available and worked the farm while attending the Fairview School near Austin. CO. Tom later graduated from Delta High School with four bars on his sweater. He was on the Delta High basketball team that won the Colorado State Basketball Championship of 1946. Fifty years later Tom and other surviving teammates were flown to Denver when Delta High again took state. In 1948, after graduating high school and two years of junior college at Iowa’s Graceland College, Tom enlisted to serve in the United States Army. As he told it, he was on a plane heading for South Korea when they received different orders and the plane turned to drop him off in the snow near Fairbanks, Alaska where he spent the next four years as a 1st lieutenant, artillery range officer working with antiaircraft weapons for the war effort as well as marrying his first wife, Jean. Following his army experience Tom enrolled at the University of Colorado to attend law school. Once a lawyer Tom and Jean moved to Grand Junction in 1956 where they adopted two sons, Paul in 1959, and Robert in 1962. It was in Grand Junction that Tom pursued his long and respectable career as a lawyer for 56 years. Tom and Jean divorced in 1972 and he soon married Carole June, with whom he spent 23 years until her untimely passing in 1996. Tom was an avid golfer as well as a runner and ran his last marathon at 72. He will be sorely missed by his surviving family of two sons, three step-daughters and step-son as well as nieces, a nephew and his many grandchildren. A graveside service is scheduled for 1:00 p.m., Monday, September 23, 2019, at Orchard Mesa Cemetery.
The Daily Sentinel page 3D Obituary - September 22, 2019
Thomas Joseph Harshman February 16, 1928 - August 12, 2019 Early in the morning of August 12, 2019, T.J. Harshman, our beloved father, grandfather and uncle, was freed from his earthly bonds. Thomas Joseph Harshman (aka: Tom, or T.J.) was born on February 16, 1928, to a pioneer family at Cory, Colorado (a town named after his grandmother, Cora Harshman), Charles and Lilah Harshman. Tom spent a rich childhood growing up on the Harshman farm at Cory and later at a nearby farm by Austin, CO, where he and his older siblings, Gordon and Barbara, and younger brother, Rodney, played nearly all sports available and worked the farm while attending the Fairview School near Austin. CO. Tom later graduated from Delta High School with four bars on his sweater. He was on the Delta High basketball team that won the Colorado State Basketball Championship of 1946. Fifty years later Tom and other surviving teammates were flown to Denver when Delta High again took state. In 1948, after graduating high school and two years of junior college at Iowa’s Graceland College, Tom enlisted to serve in the United States Army. As he told it, he was on a plane heading for South Korea when they received different orders and the plane turned to drop him off in the snow near Fairbanks, Alaska where he spent the next four years as a 1st lieutenant, artillery range officer working with antiaircraft weapons for the war effort as well as marrying his first wife, Jean. Following his army experience Tom enrolled at the University of Colorado to attend law school. Once a lawyer Tom and Jean moved to Grand Junction in 1956 where they adopted two sons, Paul in 1959, and Robert in 1962. It was in Grand Junction that Tom pursued his long and respectable career as a lawyer for 56 years. Tom and Jean divorced in 1972 and he soon married Carole June, with whom he spent 23 years until her untimely passing in 1996. Tom was an avid golfer as well as a runner and ran his last marathon at 72. He will be sorely missed by his surviving family of two sons, three step-daughters and step-son as well as nieces, a nephew and his many grandchildren. A graveside service is scheduled for 1:00 p.m., Monday, September 23, 2019, at Orchard Mesa Cemetery
