Harry Walter De Soto's Obituary
Harry Walter De Soto
October 15, 1921 – March 11, 2015
Harry De Soto was born, the sixth of six boys, into a Minnesota farming family of Dutch Reformed background. He grew up in Ogilvie, Minnesota. He married his childhood sweetheart, Eunice Robyn, in October of 1942, just three weeks before he was inducted into the army. Harry had a difficult war. He entered combat a few days after D-Day in 1944 as a gunner on a half-track and was in almost uninterrupted contact with the enemy in the months that followed. On one occasion he was captured by the enemy only to escape shortly thereafter. Many of his comrades in arms were killed or wounded. Harry’s unit later liberated Mauthausen, one of the most notorious of the Nazi concentration camps, with Harry one of the first inside the gate. He returned to civilian life having suffered a significant loss of hearing, a disability that for some time made it difficult for him to find work. The loss of hearing no doubt contributed to his reputation as a quiet man.
After the war Harry and Eunice made their lives in Tacoma. After two years spent as chauffeur and governess for a wealthy north end family, Harry landed a job with the Tacoma School District, for which he would work until his retirement. The Lord gave them two children, son John and daughter Rebecca. Harry and Eunice became part of the congregation of Faith Presbyterian Church very shortly after its establishment in 1953 and so have been members of the congregation for some 62 years. Harry also served for many years as a Sunday School teacher and an elder and remained elder emeritus upon his retirement. He and Eunice were married for 72 years and he never tired of telling others how wonderful a wife she had been to him.
Harry is remembered by those who knew him as a faithful Christian man, a loving husband
and father, a respected elder in his church, and a treasured friend. He is survived by his wife, Eunice, his son John (and wife Candy) De Soto, his daughter Rebecca (and husband Michael) Brauhn, three grandchildren, Carmen Van Soest (and husband Bassione) and Tristan and Zachary De Soto (and wife Nile), and three great grandchildren, Vivienne Van Soest and Isaac and Tucker De Soto.
Harry was above all things a Christian man, a man of deep and confident faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the Savior of the world. He spoke frequently and confidently in his later years of his desire to “depart and be with Christ, which is better by far.” [Philippians 1:23]
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