Kathleen Harness' Obituary
Kathleen Rogers Harness, 91, of Fayetteville, Arkansas peacefully passed away on Saturday, June 22, 2024. She was born January 31, 1933, in Greenwood, Mississippi to Fannie Wetsel and Donnie Odell Rogers. She was the youngest of 9 children.
Upon high school graduation in Greenwood, Kathleen attended Belhaven College in Jackson, Mississippi, and then Delta State University in Cleveland, Mississippi. In Cleveland, she met and married her first husband, Andre E. McNeil, and had her first and only child, Michael.
After three years, she and her family moved to Conway, Arkansas where she became a Sunday School teacher at Central United Methodist Church while her husband taught at Arkansas State Teachers College, now UCA.
In 1965 the family moved from Conway to Fayetteville, Arkansas and Kathleen began working at the Washington County Courthouse in the Circuit Clerk’s office. In 1995 she was elected Circuit Clerk, retiring after three terms.
In 1969 she and Carl “Mack” Harness, Sr. married and began a new blended family with four very energetic teenagers.
Kathleen made the very most of her retirement. She volunteered at the Jones Center for Families in Springdale, and the Ozark Mission Project summer youth camps around the state.
She loved to travel, fish, play bridge, attend Razorback games, garden, and cook and entertain for her family and friends. She also attended the Sequoyah United Methodist Church in Fayetteville.
She was a loving wife, mother, stepmother, step-grandmother and step-great-grandmother, sister and aunt, and a great friend to many. She had a great passion for her family and friends and rarely missed an opportunity to spend time with them.
She is preceded in death by her husband, Carl M. Harness, Sr., and stepson Carl M. Harness, Jr. Also, her parents and brothers, James, Elton, Lawrence, Harold, Don, and David Rogers, and sisters Marie McGinnis and Frances Allers.
Her survivors include her son Michael E. McNeil and his wife Janice K, stepdaughter Susan Harness Lamb, stepson Larry Lynn Harness, step-grandchildren Heather Rae Owens, Rayna Kathleen Danner, Rachel Jane Lamb, Joshua Cole Lamb, and step-great-grandchildren Taylor Rose Owens, Emma Grace Owens, Coleson Ray Bradley, Acelynn Harper McNabb, and Creedence Kate McNabb.
Visitation will be at 1 pm on Tuesday, July 2, 2024, with a memorial following at 2 pm at Nelson-Berna Funeral Home, 4520 N Crossover Rd. Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Kathleen’s ashes will be interred at Fairview Memorial Gardens in Fayetteville during a private ceremony.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Jones Center for Families in Springdale. https://www.thejonescenter.net/
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