Walter E. Harroff
September 21, 1917 - September 3, 2007

Walter Edward Harroff, 89, died September 3, 2007, in Greencroft in Goshen. He was born September 21, 1917, in Kimmel to Wilbur and Juanita (Miltenberger) Harroff. He was a descendant of the Miltenberger family, pioneers in Elkhart County three generations before him. He graduated from Manchester College in 1939 and married Elma Lucile Bowers in 1940. He taught school for several years at Monroe and at Osceola before serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II. He served as a Pharmacist's Mate Second Class at San Diego and at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Oakland, where he also played sousaphone in the post band under Capt. Dearing. After the war, he returned to Elkhart County, where he served for more than 37 years in the Indiana Employment Security Division, retiring in 1980 as Elkhart area office manager. He was a member of American Legion Post 143 of Elkhart.

Mr. Harroff also was a 50-year member of Tyrian Lodge 718 of the F & AM and the Scottish Rite of South Bend and Mizpah Shrine of Fort Wayne. An avid student of Civil War history and of the American frontier, he traveled extensively in his later years to national parks in the West and in Alaska.

His wife preceded him in death. He is survived by his sister, Betty (Elmer) Phend of Goshen; four children, Stephen (Susan) Harroff of Auburn, Vicki (D. Randall) Junkins of Downingtown, Pa., Cynthia (William) Karn of Goshen and William (Charlotte) Harroff of Edwardsville, Ill.; seven grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

Visitation was at Yoder-Culp Funeral Home, Goshen. Funeral services were held at Creekside Church of the Brethren, 60455 C.R. 113, Elkhart, Saturday, September 8. Pastors Norman Replogle of Pine Creek Church of the Brethren and David Bibbee of Creekside Church of the Brethren officiated. Burial was in Violett Cemetery, Goshen.

Memorials may be given to Mizpah Shrine Hospital for Children or Creekside Church of the Brethren.