| Notes |
- SOURCE:
http://www.augustachronicle.com/stories/101301/obi_098-6627.001.shtml
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Dr. Charles Whitfield Harnsberger Sr.
Retired physician, horse lover dies at 103
Web posted Saturday, October 13, 2001
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By Sylvia Cooper
Staff Writer
When Dr. Charles Whitfield Harnsberger Sr. was almost 95 years old, he led a group of horseback riders on an eight-hour ride into the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.
''He was known as the man who could lead a bunch of greenhorns into the mountains and bring them all back alive," said his son, Dr. Charles Whitfield Harnsberger Jr.
Dr. Harnsberger died Wednesday at Carriage Hills Plantation in Aiken, two months before his 104th birthday.
''Two more months, and he would have made 104 and broken the family record," Dr. Harnsberger said. ''Many on his mother's side made it past 100. But the Lord called him. He had a peaceful death, and had his mind intact until the end."
A graveside service will be Monday at 2 p.m. in Elk Run Cemetery, Elkton, Va., with the Rev. Canon C.E.B. Harnsberger officiating.
Dr. Harnsberger practiced medicine in Washington for 40 years before moving to Aiken. He was a family physician and was still making house calls when he retired in 1967 at the age of 70, his son said.
He was born in Elkton, Va., to Charles Edwin Harnsberger and Ann Reynolds Trent Harnsberger. He was inducted into the Army at the end of World War I and graduated from George Washington University Medical School. In World War II, he served with Selective Service.
The senior Dr. Harnsberger's father was a rancher who taught his son to ride and break horses at an early age, instilling in him a lifelong love of horses. For 55 years, he spent two weeks of each year at Eaton's Ranch in Wolf, Wyo., a well-known dude ranch.
''He was blessed with wonderful physical health," his son said.
He was an avid reader, particularly of American history, although he was well versed in world history and the classics.
''He would give us spontaneous history lessons with names, dates and battles," Dr. Harnsberger Jr. said.
Just last week he was giving family members a history lesson on previous wars.
Dr. Harnsberger also was an avid hunter and world traveler. In 1935, he and his wife, Camilla Carson Harnsberger, went on a cruise ship manned by German sailors who, unbeknownst to the couple, were mapping the coastline. Dr. Harnsberger took many pictures, which the Navy later asked to examine.
''They traveled until my mother was 80, and he was almost 90," Dr. Harnsberger's son said.
Camilla Harnsberger preceded her husband in death.
The family will receive friends Monday from 1 p.m. until the hour of service at Kyger-Trobaugh Funeral Home, Elkton, Va.
At the request of the family, please make memorials in Dr. Harnsberger's memory to The Sibley Hospital, Washington.
He is survived by his son, of Edgewater, Md.; daughters Camilla Chamberlin, of Manning, S.C., and Ann Gray, of Lilburn, Ga.; and grandchildren Lisa Wiersema, James Harnsberger and Carolyn Chamberlin.
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Davis Uriah I | Born 1707
1897 - 2001 (~ 103 years)