Obit: Bender, Harry (1889 – 1962?)
Poster: Crystal Wendt
Surname: Bender, Hagen, Ethel, Nelson, Schmidtbauer, Kanable
Source: Scrap book one: by Elsa Lange Hardrath & Dorthaleen Edwards Hardrath
Contributed by Halbert “Bud” Hardrath
Bender, Harry (19 Oct. 1889 – 4 Sep. 1963 )
Harry Bender Is Dead at Age 73
Principal of Colby H. S. for 30 years.
Colby – Harry Bender, 73, principal of Colby High School for 30 years prior to his retirement in 1952, died at 2 a.m. today in St. Joseph’s Hospital in Marshfield, where he was taken during the night after suffering a heart attack.
Funeral service will be held at 2 p.m. Friday in the Colby Methodist Church. The Rev. James Hagen will officiate and burial will be in the Colby Memorial cemetery. Friends may pay their respects at the Lulloff Funeral Home beginning this evening.
Mr. Bender was born Oct. 19, 1889, in Viola and attended grade school and high school there. He received this bachelor degree in education at the then Central State College in Stevens Point after having attended La Crosse State Teachers College.
He taught at West Salem for seven years before coming to Colby in 1920. He served as principal of the Colby High School for 30 years before retiring in 1952. After retiring as principal he taught mathematics at the school until three years ago.
As a younger man Mr. Bender was one of the organizers of the old 3-C Conference and was its president for many years. The conference broke up two years ago.
A member of the Colby Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Bender was also an officer of the Methodist Church here and at the time of his death has been serving as president of the Colby Library Board.
Survivors include his wife, the former Ethel Nichols of Colby; one son, Brice, route 1, Colby; two daughters, Mrs. Frank (Betty Jean) Nelson, Decorah, Iowa; and Mrs. William (Barbara) Schmidtbauer, Tomahawk; and seven grandchildren. Other survivors include two brothers, George, Medford; and Clarence, Munster, Ind., and a sister, Mrs. Hazel Kanable, Richland Center.