Twila Doone Harman

Twila Doone Ivie Harman, 91, peacefully graduated from this life on July 14, 2022, surrounded by her family in her Rupert, Idaho home. She was the fourth child of seven children born to Jacob William Ivie and Gertrude Wilhelmina Gillett in Loa, Utah. Her childhood was spent fishing with her father Will, making dolls out of hollyhocks with her sisters and mother Gertrude, swinging in the yard and playing in the red rocks in the area around Loa. Twila’s father Will passed when Twila was 10 years old leaving her mother with six young children while carrying the seventh. They soon moved to Salt Lake City to be close to Grandma Ivie’s parents. Twila married her high school sweetheart and the love of her life, Bob Merrill Harman, on September 21, 1950, in the Salt Lake City Temple. Four months later Bob was called to serve a full-time two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the Western Central States Mission. Twila had officially begun her lifetime of selfless service.

Bob and Twila raised their six children on the farm. The first 25 years on a dairy farm in Riverton, Utah. And the next 35 years on an Idaho potato farm north of Rupert, Idaho. Twila worked hard and played hard and taught her children the value of both. One such example is the meals she began preparing at daylight and delivered daily at lunchtime in her small pickup truck for the 25-30, member harvest crew. These were not peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, but amazing home cooked delivered hot four course meals. No matter how difficult the task at hand, Twila was having fun and made it the same for everyone else.

Twila’s whole world was her family. At the time of her passing she and Bob have 122 members in their family. Twila knows and loves each child individually. She is very much aware of their struggles and successes and regularly prays for each child with her unshaken faith. Each child is aware of the prayers she offers in their behalf and knows of her faith. When one of her children needed help, she immediately fell to her knees and begins praying and quickly dispatches the balance of her 122 family members to do the same. She calls it the prayer chain. Each of her family members has experienced both the power and miracles of a faith filled prayer and the love of the Harman family. Her approach to life can be summed up in a statement she once made in her later years to one of her children: “Every day I ask the Lord who needs help. Then I listen until he tells me who. Then I try and help that person.”

Twila was blessed with many gifts and talents and loved to share those with everyone around her. A few of her many gifts and talents included her love for and testimony of her Savior Jesus Christ, painting both oil and watercolor, gardening, sewing, writing, speaking, whistling her favorite tunes, teaching, compassionate service, floral arrangements from her flower gardens, fishing, and her most recent love for golf. Not many in their 90th year can claim to have sunk a hole in one. She did. And in the rare case she didn’t tell you, you now know.

Twila was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and served both faithfully and tirelessly in countless capacities. In 1992, she and Bob were called as the Directors of the Mormon Battalion Visitors Center in San Diego, California. They also served together in the Hong Kong Temple where Bob was a sealer from 2001-2003. Later they loved serving in the St. George and Twin Falls temples.

Twila was preceded in death by her husband of 70 years Bob, parents and five siblings. She is survived by her 6 children, Jack Harman (Shelley) of Rupert, Idaho, Paul Harman (Sue) of Park City, Utah, Kent Harman (Tami) of St. George, Utah, Cari Eames (Tim) of Rupert, Idaho, Kurt Harman (Robin) of Tetonia, Idaho, and Brent Harman (Kristin) of Park City, Utah. Along with grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She is also survived by her sister, Trudi Reed.

Services will be held 11:00 a.m. Monday, July 18, 2022, at the Acequia 1st Ward Building 204030 5th St. Rupert, Idaho with Bishop Sam Crane officiating. Services will conclude with burial in the View Cemetery. Viewing for family and friends will be held from 5 - 7 p.m. Sunday July 17, 2022, at the Acequia 1st Ward building and for 1 hour prior to the service. Services are under the direction of Hansen Mortuary.