Herb Harding

Herb Harding, Husband, Father, Grandfather, Brother, proud Marine, lost his sixth battle with cancer, with his wife and daughters laying their hands on his chest.  He fought the good fight, finished the race, and kept the faith. A worship service to honor his life will be 10am, Monday, July 10th, 2023 at First Waco Methodist Church on Cobbs.  A visitation with the family will be from 3-5 pm, Sunday, July 9th, at Grace Gardens Funeral Home in Woodway.

Many people will remember him as a radio personality, which he loved. He would get up every morning at 4 or 4:30 to be on the air by 6. He loved saying that he could not imagine getting paid for doing something that was so much fun. His life was a life of adventures. At 17, he drove a truck pulling a combine to North Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska, working the wheat harvest for his uncle. He slept on a cot under the stars unless it was raining, and then in the barn. He did this for a couple of summers. Another job was driving an 18-wheeler loaded with pipe cleaning equipment from Texas to California. As it turned out, his co-worker lied about having a commercial license, because he was an ex-con, and told Herb he would teach him how to drive and sing to him all the way to keep him awake. Next adventure was with a friend, whose father bought him a new convertible for making high grades in college. The two of them packed up and started a road trip through the Western United States working at many different jobs, including mining, washing dishes, cutting timber, etc., whatever would make them enough to drive to the next adventure. The trip ended in Portland, Oregon, when his friend decided to go home to Levelland. Herb decided he wanted to hitchhike down Hwy. 101 along the Pacific Coast to Los Angeles. He loaded his belongs in his friend car, hid a few dollars in his shoe and headed down the coast line, meeting many interesting folks along the way, including an elderly Indian headed back to the reservation because was disgusted that his son was taking up the white man’s way, a light weight boxing champion, a couple of sailors headed back to base, and several other characters.  He gathered oranges, grapefruit, avocados, and other California goodies along the way. On the East side of LA, headed back to Texas, he was picked up by a wrestler who was driving back to West Texas and dropped Herb off at his parents front door.  Later, he joined the Marines. He would have made that a career, except for a medical discharge. Next came radio school, and a successful career in radio. He was offered jobs at the top station in Houston, but as part owner of KRZI, he could not accept. He was also offered a spot in Hawaii but did not want to take the children so far from grandparents. His creative writing talents included letters to his grandchildren at Christmas, graduation, birthdays and any time he felt like they needed to hear from Granpa, Moments to Remember and Commentaries on KRZI. He did attend Texas Tech, but quit with 20 hours left to graduate, because that just was not his thing. At our home on the Brazos, he decided to learn to lay rock. The first couple of attempts were not that pretty, but he eventually created beautiful ponds with waterfalls, fountains, steps down toward the river, retaining walls, wishing wells and much more.   All of that, while taking up his last passion, riding Harley Davidson Motorcycles. Beth joined him on that adventure, buying her own bike. Together they traveled to forty-four of the lower forty-eight states, making dear lifetime friends on their travels, the longest trip was to Brunswick, Maine.  Herb logged over 350,000 miles on his Harleys.

Herb also taught Sunday School to second graders through their sixth-grade year, drawing cartoon character cards for each of their birthdays.  He later taught several adult classes for many years. His writing talents made each lesson a unique perspective of God’s word, one including his love of man’s best friend. His last lesson was 3 weeks prior to his death. He was a friend and mentor to many and taught many men that it is okay to say “I love you” to another man. Any dog that knew him for any length of time knew that he always had treats in his pocket.  Some even got them at Home Depot and any other place he might meet them.

Herb is survived by his wife of 61 years, Beth, daughters Christi Stanton and husband Wally, Joey Groce and husband Mark, Grandchildren, Kaden Fisk, Kenadee Fisk, Ryan Stanton, Reagan Stanton, Brother Derry Harding and wife Carolyn, Half sister Marie Lomonaco, Sisters-in-laws Wilma Blanks, Dolores Gillespie and numerous nieces and nephews.

In Lieu of flowers, please consider a memorial donation to First Methodist Waco or the Methodist Children's Home MCH.org .

Registry for Herb Harding