Royce Harms

Royce Harms, 87, of Wellsburg, passed away Saturday, June 22, 2024, at the Franklin Country View Nursing Home in Hampton. 

Funeral services were Saturday, June 29 at the Wellsburg Reformed Church with burial in the church cemetery. 

Royce Elwin Harms was born on Dec. 18, 1936. He was the first born of Elwin and Helen Harms of Wellsburg. He grew up on the family farm that was five miles southwest of Wellsburg during the time of the Great Depression and World War II. The stories he often shared were about the adventures he had found around every corner of the farm.

He attended the Wellsburg School and was a member of the Wellsburg Reformed youth. One summer he was sent to Washington, D.C. on as a Christian Endeavor Delegate. He graduated in 1955 and briefly attended college at Central College in Pella. During his tenure there he realized he was not destined for a college degree and returned home to the family farm. He felt he had his true calling upon his return and began to really learn how to run the family business. He began his career by buying a few cows for milking and eventually easing his way in to running the farm after his parents moved to town.

Royce met a young woman from Kesley named Anna Schipper and they began to date for a few years and finally married on Dec. 5, 1958. This union blessed them with five children who were all raised the same farm way. The children were all taught the value of hard work by contributing to the many chores around the farm that needed to be done. They also discovered the many imaginative play areas when they had a minute of free time. At the end of the day, they all came together over a home-cooked family meal.

Royce worked hard to keep improving the family farm. He built it to be a well-oiled machine and eventually he fulfilled his personal goal to register the family farm as a Century Farm in the State of Iowa in 1998. However, the work of a farmer took a toll on his body, so they sold the acreage and moved to Wellsburg in 2005.

Royce is survived by his sister Vivian (Theodore) Huisman, his brother Marvin (Nedra) Harms, his daughter Pamela Luwe, his son David (Deanna) Harms, his daughter Michelle (Mark) McMullen, his son Daniel Harms, and his daughter Melissa Miller, 15 grandchildren, and nine great grandchildren.

He  was preceded in death by his parents Elwin Harms and Helen Newell Harms, his wife Anna Schipper Harms, his son-in -law Randy Luwe, and his daughter-in-law Julie Druckrey Harms.

Funeral arrangements are under the guidance of the Sietsema-Atkinson Funeral Home in Hampton.