Attress ‘Bea’ Cleo Rhodes Harder

Published 9:18 am Tuesday, December 26, 2017

June 7, 1923–November 23, 2017

Attress ‘Bea’ Cleo Rhodes Harder died Thanksgiving night. She had joined most of her family for a pleasant, traditional Thanksgiving Dinner. She passed after returning home to her condominium located a few blocks from her oldest daughters house in Portland. She remained spunky, independent and perceptive all of her 94 – 1/2 – years.

Bea was born in Greenville, South Carolina, one of seven children. She spent most of her youth in Brevard, North Carolina. She met her husband of 62 years, Robert ‘Bob’ Harder, a native Oregonian, in North Carolina when he was stationed near her home during World War II. Soon after they were married he was sent to a post in the south seas, and she moved to California to await his return. After that, Bea only occasionally returned to Brevard to visit her family, but she retained her southern accent until the end.

She and Bob lived briefly in Manteca and Stockton, California. One daughter, Bobby Jo, was born when they lived in Manteca, the second, Denise, was born while they lived in Stockton. Then they purchased a small lumberyard and hardware store in the rural California town of Lockeford, population 600. Their small house and the lumberyard were located side by side on the only road that led into town. Over the years, Bea’s cooking and southern hospitality made their home the place to stop by on the way to “wherever” whenever possible.

In 1968, Bea, Bob and Denise moved to Woodinville, Washington. They lived there for 20 years. Bea became the first woman store manager for Ernst Stores before retiring and moving with Bob to Portland, in 1988. There they lived in Laurelhurst and the Alameda neighborhoods. In 1999, they built a house in Desert Air, Washington, and they stayed there until 2004. At that point they became concerned about the distance for emergency medical attention and moved to Redmond, Oregon.Bob had a stroke and died there in 2006.

Bea stayed there until April of this year when she moved to Portland. After Bob died she became an avid duplicate bridge player in the Bend and Redmond area. She traveled for tournaments to Las Vegas and Reno, as well as Portland and Seaside. Other than her friends and family, her favorite things were garage sales, duplicate bridge, gardening, reading and driving (in July she bought an Audi A3S sports car). Words that family and friends have used to describe Bea are resilient, observant, gracious, warm, positive, friendly, social, feisty, funny, smart, inspirational, encouraging, special.

In lieu of flowers, please contribute to the education foundation for the ACBL (American Contract Bridge League). She was concerned that there was not a younger generation of bridge players to carry on this great game.

She is survived by her daughters, Bobby Jo Koblegarde and Denise Southwell; her grandchildren, Evan Dean, Haley Bevacqua and Chris Southwell; her great-grandchildren, Brooklyn and Barrett Bevacqua and Latham Dean.