Paul P. Harmon; Letter Carrier for Post Office

Paul P. Harmon, a retired letter carrier for the U.S. Post Office, died in his Ojai home Friday after a long illness. He was 83.

Harmon was born Jan. 15, 1912, in a sod house on the North Dakota prairie where his parents were farmers. After graduating from high school, he joined the Army in 1931 and was stationed at Fort Snelling in St. Paul, Minn., where he was a member of a tank company.

He left the Army in 1934 and found work washing the windows of St. Paul’s skyscrapers.

He met Edna Severson on a blind date in 1935, and the two were married one year later. That same year, Harmon, who had wanted to work for the U.S. government, accepted a job as a letter carrier.

He moved his family to Topanga Canyon in 1947 so he would no longer have to carry the mail in the snow. They later lived in Santa Monica.

After retiring from the Post Office in 1966, he and his wife moved to Oak View, where he started his own business repairing Coleman stoves and lanterns, a skill he learned from many years of camping with his family throughout the West. They later moved to Ojai.

Due to his illness, he closed the business in 1977.

In his spare time, Harmon loved to read nature and history books as well as National Geographic magazine.

Harmon is survived by his wife; three daughters, Beverly Loomis of Frazier Park, Wanda Peterson of Culver City and Paula Sukow of Long Beach; a sister, Eva Pierskalla of Minneapolis; six grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren.

Private graveside services will be held at 2 p.m. Monday at Ivy Lawn Cemetery in Ventura with the Rev. Robert E. Underwood officiating. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Hospice of Ventura. Arrangements are under the directions of Clausen Funeral Home, Ojai.