Daniel D. Harbit, Sr.

HARBIT, HUGHES, STRABALA, STRATTON, GOODWIN, MCLAUGHLIN, LUKAVSKY, FELDMAN, COLE, WATERS, SCHNEIDER

Posted By: Tara (email)
Date: 6/11/2009 at 14:07:48

Daniel D. Harbit, Sr., 80, of 1132 Franklin St., Iowa City, died Friday, July 18, 2008, at his home after a courageous battle with mesothelioma, a lung cancer caused by asbestos exposure.

Daniel Dennis Harbit, Sr. was born November 30, 1927, in Springdale, Iowa, the youngest of eight children of William Proctor and Alice Chowing (Hughes) Harbit. Dan graduated from Springdale High School in 1945. He was proud to have played on the varsity baseball and basketball teams for five years; from eighth through twelfth grades.

After high school and while only seventeen, Dan enlisted in the United States Navy and served on The USS Glenn during World War II. While in the service, he played on the Navy baseball and basketball teams.

After Dan’s tour of duty ended, he was employed by the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics for 40 years, retiring as a maintenance supervisor in the fall of 1990. While employed at the University of Iowa, Dan met his future wife, Marina Alyce Strabala, who worked in the telephone switchboard office at the University of Iowa Hospital. They married November 12, 1955, at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Iowa City. Dan and Marina lived on a small farm near Downey, Iowa until 1961 when they moved to their current home in Iowa City.

Dan served on the University of Iowa Community Credit Union Board of Director’s from 1974 to 1986, and was on various Credit Union committees during that time.

Dan loved sports and coached his son’s Little League and Babe Ruth baseball teams. He greatly enjoyed attending his grandchildren’s many different sporting activities. Grandpa Dan could always be counted on to be in attendance; and on many busy weekends would scurry from one grandchild’s ballgame to the next. We know that Grandpa Dan will continue to cheer loudly and proudly at all future games, and now will have the best seat in the house.

Dan is survived by his wife, Marina, and their seven children and ten grandchildren: Dan Jr. and wife Jane of Iowa City and their children Justin, Allison and Kaybri, Steve of Iowa City, Rosemary and husband Craig Stratton of Coralville and their children Kimberly and Andy, Jeff of Mount Pleasant, SC and his sons Christopher and Eric, Tom of Coralville, Susan Goodwin of Iowa City and her daughter Megan, and Carol and husband Matt McLaughlin of Iowa City and their children Mark and Molly. Dan is also survived by a sister, Anna Lukavsky of Washington, Iowa, and numerous nieces and nephews.

Dan was preceded in death by his parents and six siblings and spouses: Gertrude (Wilfred) Feldman, Pearl (Vernon) Cole, Edwin Lukavsky, Maude (Fred) Waters, Alice (Paul) Schneider, John (Leona) Harbit and Robert (Betty) Harbit, and two nephews Wilfred Feldman, Jr. and Gary Harbit.

In lieu of flowers, a memorial fund has been established for Hospice of Iowa City.