Harold E. Wefald

Harold was born in Takoma Park, MD on April 26th, 1927, and raised in Hawley, MN. The second of four children of Magnus and Verna Wefald, he worked on the family farm during the summer, starting as a young boy, and liked to tell stories of herding sheep on horseback. He was once chased by a bull and saved by using his tumbling skills to dive over a fence at the last minute. He attended college at a number of places, including St. Olaf’s College, his parents’ alma mater, and the University of New Mexico. He served in the navy and the army, and was stationed in Japan after the war.

After returning to the States, he attended graduate school at the University of Minnesota, where he met Emile Yung Chung Huang, a recent immigrant from China, in his philosophy class. Harold had begun to teach himself Chinese as an exploration of the dependence of thought on language. He and Emile conversed and exchanged letters in Chinese, and they married on November 21, 1951 in Washington, DC. Their first child, Verna Jean, was born a year later, followed by Susan, Eric and Franklin.

In the fifties and sixties Harold worked as a world affairs specialist at the National Security Agency, studying the history of different nations and cultures to gain insight into the decision making processes of world leaders. After NSA he worked for Honeywell, teaching computer programming, and then for Vitro Laboratories, a government contractor, where he led a team that worked on such projects as programming missiles for the Department of Defense. He retired from Vitro in 1992, and spent many years reading and writing about a broad range of topics. This was an activity he had long engaged in while working, and he enjoyed having the additional time to pursue his ideas. He was particularly interested in the mind and the process of thought and learning, and promoted the development of a “culture of learning” to unleash children’s full potential – the genius within. In the 1960s Harold had a number of magazine articles published about trains, coal, and the environment – he was one of the early environmentalists. His later writings were as varied as “Of Course Your Dog Can Think” to a tribute to his wife Emile, which he wrote after she died.

Harold spent many hours riding his bike, walking and hiking, and in his 60s and 70s, roller blading. He was proud of the attention he received for being an older roller blader. He had his picture in the Washington Post, skating in front of the White House after Pennsylvania Avenue was closed to traffic, and was then interviewed and filmed by French TV. He loved spending time with his children and grandchildren, and also his extended family, attending reunions in Minnesota, and welcoming his siblings and his nieces and nephews with delight when they visited him in Maryland.

Harold felt a deep connection to his hometown, Hawley, MN, and expressed a desire to be buried in Hawley near his parents. He subscribed to the Hawley Herald throughout his life, and kept track of his childhood friends as much as possible.

Harold’s son Eric was killed in a car accident on August 31, 1989, along with Eric’s wife Mary and his mother-in-law Margaret. This was the greatest sadness of Harold’s life. His wife Emile died on November 3rd, 2009 after a long decline with Alzheimer’s-like dementia. Harold took loving care of Emile through those years and enabled her to live at home until she died.

Thanks to his companion Marita Ross who lived with him for almost four years, Harold was also fortunate to be able to live in his beloved Maryland home until just before he died on December 28th, 2014 after contracting pneumonia and spending 11 days in the hospital. He is survived by his children Verna, Susan and Frank, his siblings Knut, Martin and Marguerite, his seven grandchildren and step grandchildren Sarah, Peggy, Nonnie, Emilee, Jamie, Eric and John, and his many nieces and nephews.

Memorial gathering will be held on Saturday, May 30, from 9 – 10 a.m., with Memorial Service at 10 a.m., in Wright Funeral Home, Hawley, MN.