Obituary of Robert Harding

Robert (Bob) Harding, suddenly and unexpectedly went to a better place on Wednesday, April 27, 2016. He was born in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1936. He was the oldest son of the late Nelson and Virginia (Stanfield) Harding. He leaves behind his beloved wife, best friend,co-worker and soul mate of 59 years Joyce (Eberly), his children, daughter, Athena, (Ewan), Phil Jenkins, son Steven and son Reg (Kelly). Grandchildren, Zachary Ewan (Nicole), Allie, and Cameron Jenkins, Tess and Graeme Harding. Great-grandchildren Maria and Stephen Ewan and Oliver Harding. His siblings, sister Earleen, brother Thomas (Grace) and sister Jennifer. Many nieces and nephews and great nieces and nephews and many, many lifelong friends. He was a talented, fun, kind, generous, giving, loving wonderful man who loved his family, loved working on just about anything, loved building just about anything and living life to the fullest. He was a genuine craftsman of wood and there was nothing that he could not design, build or fix. He loved working on and building cars and boats of all types. He was a voracious reader of everything. He will be missed so much by everyone. Nothing was ever too much trouble for him to do for anyone, and there was no one he would not give a hand helping too. He was a unique man, who lived his life his way. Born and raised in Indiana for 10 years, Bob remained a country boy at heart. He was a loving father, a loyal friend, a devoted son and husband. You can't think of Bob without Joyce. They were a part of each other. As a self employed team, together they worked, loved, worked, played, laughed and cried, raised 3 beautiful children, helped and supported each other and the rest of the world when and where they could, and worked some more. Bob was a self made man, from buying, housing and riding his horse, King, to fishing for blood worms in the Delaware River for Jim Roe, building firetrucks, buying and renovating numerous houses in Delanco and Riverside (way before it was the thing to do,as seen on TV), to building houses from the ground up, including log homes, up and down the east coast, also helping his son and daughter build their homes. He was a self educated man of many things, excelling in gardening, woodworking and anything that he put his mind too. He was also getting pretty good at finding things he was looking for on the computer!! Bob was the recipient of the annual Volunteer of the Year Award, for his work with Habitat for Humanity. Several years ago he found a yacht in a Florida marine graveyard that had been in the Humphrey Bogart movie, Casablanca. He bought the boat, had it shipped to his home in Delanco, designed and built a huge 3 story hoop house and started to completely rebuild it. Bob was smart, unselfish, generous, loving and enjoyed spending time with his family and friends. He was the most awesome Grandpop and "Bebop" to his grandchildren and great grandchildren, and he leaves us all with broken hearts, never to be forgotten...........and: A plethora of books and magazines he'd read 1957 T-Bird inherited from his friend Pierce Hamlin 37 hand saws, 25 hammers 50 lbs of nails 10 wooden ice cream parlor chairs-- their property is huge so the list of things is endless!!! enough left over wood to build 8 houses and an industrial wood sawmill that he designed and built himself, and accumulated more wooden planks that he had sawed from the trees he hauled home and cut himself, than most of us have ever seen! He was an amazing man who cared about so many things and will be forever missed by us all. A memorial service will be held on Monday, May 16th. Condolences from 6 to 9 PM (service at 7:30 PM) at Chadwick Memorial Home, Riverside, NJ. In lieu of flowers please send a contribution to Habitat for Humanity in his name by visiting the following link: http://www.habitat.org/support/giftfromtheheart.aspx