Obituary: William L. Harwood, 1946-2023

William L. Harwood, 77, of South Burlington, Vt., passed away
peacefully on August 23, 2023, at the McClure Miller Respite House
after a 16-month battle with cancer. Bill was born in Burlington Vt.,
on May 18, 1946, to Theodore Harwood and Laura Jean Lathrop. The
family moved to Grand Forks, N.D., when he was a young boy.

Bill completed his
BA with honors in American history at the University of North Dakota
in 1968. In 1970 the Journal of South Dakota History published
his thesis on the Ku Klux Klan in Grand Forks. He then served three
years in the U.S. Army as a military intelligence NCO and completed a
year of Polish language training at the Defense Language Institute in
Monterey, Calif. He applied his knowledge of Polish to earn a
doctorate in Polish and East European history at the University of
Illinois Urbana-Champaign, conducting research at the Jagiellonian
University in Krakow, Poland. He passed the foreign service exam at
the American embassy in Warsaw and worked with the U.S. Information
Agency as a foreign service information officer doing press and
cultural work in U.S. embassies in Bangladesh, Nepal, India,
Pakistan, Poland, Russia and Somalia.

While serving
overseas, Bill was married to Marjorie Tomoe Yamamoto, a family nurse
practitioner with the U.S. State Department, and they welcomed
daughter Laura. The family returned to Washington when Marjorie fell
ill, and she died in 1998. In 2001, Bill married Elaine Hubert, who
had worked at the World Bank, and in 2007 they moved to Vermont,
living first in Burlington and then in South Burlington. Throughout
his life Bill was devoted to music, both singing and playing the
French horn. Starting in high school and continuing at overseas
postings and in Washington and Vermont, he loved to perform in
musicals, operas and Gilbert and Sullivan. He sang with the
Burlington Choral Society, the Oriana/Aurora Chamber Singers and the
choir of the College Street Congregational Church, which he attended
as a boy. He has served on the boards of his church and music groups
and was president of the Burlington Rotary Club. He studied creative
writing and wrote his life story, particularly his life in the
foreign service.

Bill lived a very
full and productive life. Everyone who knew him will have their
special memories, but three qualities stand out. First, he was
devoted to family, including the group of 18 Harwood first cousins
who stayed close throughout their lives, and to maintaining lifelong
friendships with people from childhood in North Dakota to overseas
postings to life in Washington and Vermont. Second, he never gave up
his passion for learning, reading everything he could get his hands
on. His library, music and CD collections never stopped growing.
Third, he had a faith in God that sustained him to the end. Bill was
a good man who will be much missed.

Bill is survived by
his wife of 22 years, Elaine Hubert, his daughter, Laura Benise,
son-in-law Roni Benise, and grandchildren Bodhi and Isabella Benise,
all of Ojai, Calif.; sister Judy Harwood of Manchester Center, Vt.;
brother Ted Harwood of Duluth, Minn.; and niece, nephews and cousins.

A memorial service
will be held at the College Street Congregational Church, 265 College
St., Burlington, VT, on November 11, 2023, 1 p.m. The service will be
in person as well as on Zoom. In lieu of flowers, donations in Bill’s
memory may be made to College Street Church or a music group of your
choosing. To send online condolences please visit readyfuneral.com.

This article appears in Sep 6-12, 2023.