Posted by XXXXXX on November 2, 2008:

Richard S. Harsh '48 No. 16702 23 Oct 1926 - 28 Jun 2006 Died in Winchester, VA Interred in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, VA Richard Stanley Harsh was born in Ponca City, OK, fewer than 20 years after it became a state. His father was Lee Cheatham Harsh, Jr., an accountant for Conoco-Phillips, and his mother Virginia Bagby was a school teacher. Stan was educated in the Ponca City public schools, earned the rank of Eagle Scout, and managed the high school yearbook. Stan won the V-12 award with the Navy and was accepted at the University of Oklahoma but opted to attend West Point instead. Stan received a Navy discharge before entering West Point in June 1944. He was a gifted equestrian, a summer riding instructor, and active in the art club as well as the debating society. He also was part of the Honor Guard for President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's funeral at Hyde Park in 1945. Stan graduated in June 1948 in the last class commissioned into the Cavalry. Following graduation, he traveled in Europe that summer with some of his classmates. Stan completed the Ground General School at Ft. Riley, KS, in the fall of 1948 and the Armored School at Ft. Knox, KY, a year later. He was stationed in Straubing, Austria, in 1950 to protect our Eastern Front. Stan received a promotion to captain for redirecting a tank division that had been stalled at the river's edge. Using the German he had learned at West Point, Stan communicated with a local farmer to resolve poor mapping issues. Stan's promotion sent him to Berlin for transportation duties, and Berlin's culture, arts, history and antique stores all had a profound influence on him. Following Berlin, Stan continued in transportation at the Port of New York and Ft. Sill, OK, until he retired from active duty in November 1954. Stan then passed his Master's level engineering exam and accepted a position with the Schlumberger Corporation in Venezuela and Colombia to assay oil wells. He lived in the jungle for two years to save enough to attend grad school, enduring high heat, afternoon rain showers, crocodiles, and snakes while he read Architectural Digest magazines to plan his dream house. Stan was accepted into George Washington University Law School in 1957. He passed the Bar in 1959 and served on the Law Review before graduating with a Juris Doctor in February 1960. In September 1959, Stan married Jane Olson at the Cadet Chapel at West Point. After a short honeymoon in Montreal, they resided in the Washington, DC, area. Stan joined the Civil Service ranks as an administrative lawyer and worked for the Small Business Administration, the Federal Maritime Commission, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Early in his Government career, he often was the sole attorney facing teams of opposing counsel on cases in New York, New Orleans, San Francisco and Hawaii. Stan found the regulatory field exciting from Day One. He retired from the U.S. Department of Agriculture as the acting General Counsel after the Nixon/Ford Administration. His duties included selling commodity bonds on Wall Street, managing the Forest Service, Farmer's Home and Food Stamp Program, and supervising more than 270 attorneys. During his tenure, he re-codified the U.S. Department of Agriculture laws, including some that had not been reviewed for over 35 years. Following his federal service, Stan was asked to serve on the Grace Commission, also known as President Reagan's Private Sector Survey on Cost Control, 1981-83, to identify and eliminate wasteful government spending. While having a full-career in law and an active family life, Stan spent one weekend per month in the Army Reserves. Due to political flux, Stan transferred to Civil Affairs and retired as a colonel. He completed the Industrial College of the Armed Forces and was number one in his class at the Command and General Staff School in Kansas. For nearly 25 years in retirement, Stan and Jane traveled the world, always finding excuses to retrace the paths of Columbus, Vasco de Gama and European ancestors. Stan and Jane revisited Berlin in 1985 and 1999, noting that the train orders were still cut in Russian, 35 years after Stan was stationed there. After every trip, Stan created the scrapbooks, and Jane wrote the journals to share with their family. Hobbies became passions. Stan traced more than 50 families in Virginia before the American Revolution. His genealogy led to his co-authoring of a book of his family's ancestry, chronicling more than 1,000 Huguenot descendants. Stan hosted multiple Chenault family reunions, including one in 2001, marking the 300th anniversary of their ancestor's arriving in Williamsburg in 1701. Stan spent countless hours writing a religious book entitled "O Glory," compiling stories and interviews with famous characters like Erasmus and Martin Luther. Stan was never without ideas. He also enjoyed gardening, restoring furniture, painting, auctions, traveling and spending time with his children, grandchildren and great-grandchild. Stan stressed the importance of education and shared his love of learning. He encouraged others to state their ideas and follow their hearts. His ways were mostly quiet, and he was known for his resolute leadership. He used to find humor in quoting CPT John Smith to his kids when they were growing up: "If you don't work, you don't eat." On 28 Jun 2006, at the age of 79, Stan died in Winchester, VA, of complications from pneumonia that he contracted while traveling in Spain. He is survived by his wife; his four children, Bruce, Virginia, Anne and Blair; six grandchildren; and one great-grandchild. His memorial service was held at the Old Stone Presbyterian Church in Winchester, VA, on 1 Jul 2006. A second service was held at the Old Chapel at Fort Myer, VA, on 11 Oct 2006, prior to his burial at Arlington National Cemetery. From a life that spanned nearly 80 years and influenced so many, he will always be remembered for all he gave and for not expecting anything in return. Soldier, lawyer, author, and family man, Stan Harsh served his country and family honorably. The West Point commitment to Duty, Honor, Country was learned in his youth and lasted his lifetime.

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