Virda Lorraine Harmon
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Virda Lorraine Harmon was born February 24, 1931 at the tile house about 5 miles south of Bainville, Montana. Virda was the 3rd child of William and Gladys Harmon. Virda had 6 sisters and 4 brothers for siblings.
Virda started school early and walked or rode a horse to school about 2 miles away. In 1937, her parents moved the family to the larger home of the Crandel's. Virda and the other kids in the family went to school one day and came home to the Crandel house that evening. In 1940 they moved into town for the winter so the kids could go to school. They moved to a different house in Bainville for the winter in 1942 because this new house had plumbing. The family also moved out to the farm every summer. The family did this routine for the school year until all children graduated from high school.
Virda graduated from Bainville High School in 1948, and went on to college at Moorhead, MN at Concordia College. She graduated from Concordia in 1952 with a degree in education. Upon graduation from college she accepted a position teaching in Hogeland, Montana in the fall of 1952. She met her future husband, Ordell C. Klindworth during her first year of teaching. Ordell and Virda were married June 23, 1953 (this date was the birthday of one of her sisters) and she had no plans to continue to teach other than as a substitute. Ordell and Virda had three children. Duane (1954), Daryl (1956) and Kathryn (Kathy 1958).
When the Hogeland school closed in 1970, the Klindworth family moved to Harlem to attend school. Her children then started to do the same thing she did as a child- live in town during the winter and on the farm in the summer. She was happy working side by side with Ordell.
When she was not substitute teaching in Hogeland and later in Harlem, she was busy with different organizations that she belonged to. Some of those organizations were: VFW Auxiliary, American Legion Auxiliary, American Lutheran Churches of Hogeland and Harlem, the Busy XX Club of Harlem and the Montana Seed Show Committee.
When Ordell died in 1989, Virda went back to work. First she worked for the Census Bureau for the 1990 census. When the census job got done, she found a job at the Harlem Grade School until she retired in 2008. She missed seeing all the kids but she also understood she needed to be done.
It was a sad day for the family to make the decision that Mom had to go to a Nursing Home but that decision came in May of 2010. Virda lived at the Care & Comfort Nursing Home of Havre until August of 2014, and then she was moved to the Sweet Nursing Home in Chinook, where she passed away on November 19, 2017.
Virda is preceded in death by her husband Ordell; her parents, William and Gladys Harmon; her brothers Lauren, Nolan and Carter Harmon; brother-in-law's - Dick Rohde, David Booth, and Ralph Goodwin.
Virda is survived by her children: Duane (Carol) Klindworth, Daryl (Margaret) Klindworth, and Kathryn (Lowell) Long; her grandchildren: Matthew (Annie) Klindworth, Morgan Klindworth, Kelsey Klindworth, Ashley (Joshua) Bare, Sarah Klindworth, Adam (Danielle) Klindworth, Becky (Patrick) Gordon, David Long, Elizabeth (Cody) Gibson; 4 great grandchildren; her siblings: Edith (Carl) Benson, EmmaJo (Jerry) Krause, Agatha Rohde, Rita Booth, Janice (Wayne) Knudsen, Myrna Goodwin, David (Dixie) Harmon; sister-in-law's Sharon Harmon and Susie Harmon; and many nieces, nephews, and cousins.
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