Donald Miller Harmon

Donald M. Harmon, 87, of Red House, WV, passed away, on December 5, 2022. He was preceded in death by his parents Judson and Dorothy Harmon and his loyal Dobermans Samantha, Jake, and Bonnie. He is survived by his longtime friend Jeff Bowman of Liberty, his beautiful Doberman Pepper, sisters Anne Rollins (David) of Charleston, Kathryn Harmon of Durham, NC, daughter Lisa Smolder of Poca, grandson Ethan Smolder of Ohio, granddaughter Olivia Starr (Dan) of Texas, and great grandson Hunter Starr of Texas. He grew up as a Baptist and as a youth, was a member of the Riverside Baptist Church. He was a 1953 graduate of Poca High School, where he played basketball. He attended Morris Harvey College where he obtained a Bachelor’s Degree, and West Virginia University in which he obtained his Master’s Degree. He was an Army veteran (1958 -1962) serving as a medic and was a member of the John Marshall Post 187 of the American Legion. He was a retired Kanawha County Schools teacher/administrator. Don dedicated his adult life to working with and for young people. He was a basketball coach in the 1950’s and 1960’s at the old downtown Charleston YMCA, never having a losing season. He was extremely proud of his boys, most of whom grew into solid, productive citizens. He was a track official beginning in 1961 until 2015. He worked countless high school meets in West Virginia and the State Meet since 1961, as well as many college meets including NAIA and NCAA national championships, off-year Olympic Festivals. ACC Championships, Southern Conference Championships, WVIAC Championships. He was the football statistician for Dupont High School in 1976-1991, missing only 3 games in 16 years. In 1980, he developed the format for the system of keeping records for the football playoffs, with the approval of the WVSSAC and was the statistician and custodian of the records for 30 years until 2010. From the inception of the Super Six in 1979, he missed only one Super Six in the first 31 years of its existence. In 1997, he developed the format for records for the North-South football game, researched the records for past games and maintained the records. In 2008, he was named the historian of the new West Virginia Coaches Association North-South Football Hall of Fame and compiled a game-by-game summary of all N-S games. In 2016 he was inducted into the West Virginia Coaches Association Hall of Fame. He was a member of the Charleston Distance Run Committee, the WVCCAC state track coaches committee, and the WV state track meet games committee. After retirement, he was a substitute teacher in the Putnam County School systems. He also became a gentleman farmer, taking great pride in his produce which he freely gave away to senior citizens and hay from his fields. Graveside Service will be 11:00 am Thursday, December 8, 2022 at Haven of Rest Memorial Gardens, Red House. Anyone wishing to leave an online memory or condolence may do so by visiting Donald's tribute page at: www.chapmanfuneralhomes.com. Chapman Funeral Home, family-owned and located at 12848 Winfield Road, Winfield, WV is honored to handle Mr. Harmon’s arrangements.

Donald Miller Harmon

April 10, 1935 - December 5, 2022