Della K. Harper; Former Grade School Teacher

Della Kathryn Harper, a former elementary school teacher who also taught Sunday school, died Sunday following a sudden illness. She was 99.

Born May 15, 1900, in Vermillion, Kan., she was the eldest of 10 children. She attended schools in the area and later taught elementary school in Scott City, Kan., for nine years.

After moving to Ventura in 1929, she met and married Claude E. Harper, who was also from Kansas, later that year at the First Christian Church in Ventura.

She was a longtime member of the Wednesday Afternoon Club of Mound, Ventura County. She was also active in both the Ventura First Christian Church and Ojai First Christian Church, serving as an elder and a deaconess. Harper held several offices in Christian Women’s Fellowship in both churches.

Harper enjoyed teaching and for more than 40 years taught Sunday school. She was an avid reader and maintained an active interest in world and local news and local events.

Harper was especially knowledgeable about weather conditions and kept informed of current weather systems readily discussing its effects on crops, particularly citrus. She and her husband had been citrus growers and owned ranches in Ventura and Ojai.

She is survived by her brother, John C. Carney of Burlington, Kan.; and sisters Geraldine Russell of North East, Md., Georgia O. Whitener of Scranton, Kan., Alta M. Barton of Burlington, Kan., and Nellie C. Truelove, of Burlington, Kan. Her husband died in 1972.

Graveside services are scheduled at 11 a.m. Friday at Ivy Lawn Memorial Park in Ventura with the Rev. Donald Dewey of Ventura’s First Christian Church officiating. Arrangements are under the direction of Ted Mayr Funeral Home in Ventura.

Memorial contributions may be made to the First Christian Church in Ventura.