Baxter Harwood DVM (1934 - 2020)

Born 1 Aug 1934 in Newton, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States

Ancestors

Died 8 Jun 2020 at age 85 in Forest Grove, Washington, Oregon, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Paul Harwood [send private message]

Biography

Baxter was born in 1934.^[1]

In the 1940 census Baxter (age 5) was the single son of Sumner Harwood in Newton, Middlesex, Massachusetts.^[2] The household was:

He attended Santa Rosa Junior College in California from 1951 to 1954. He originally enrolled as an engineering student, but struggled with the coursework, and so eventually switched into pre-veterinary medicine, in which he excelled ^[3].

It was at Santa Rosa JC that he met Ramona (Koch) Harwood. They eventually eloped to Idaho and were married on November 14 1954.^[4]

Baxter was accepted into the veterinary medicine program at the University of California at Davis. He began there in the fall of 1955 and graduated in 1959 ^[5].

He was licensed by the state of California to practice as a veterinarian on July 15 1959.

He worked briefly in private practice, then took a position with the California State Department of Agriculture as a state veterinarian. He took some time away from the CSDA in 1966 to try his hand at private practice but decided that the long hours took too much time away from his family and returned to the CSDA in 1967. Then, in 1968, he joined the United States Air Force. ^[6]

He served in the Air Force for 23 years, eventually retiring in 1990 at the rank of Colonel ^[7]. He and Ramona retired to Centralia, Washington, where he devoted his time to his membership in the Masons and teaching music at the local community college ^[8].

He was diagnosed with soft-tissue sarcoma of the lung in 2019. He passed away on June 8, 2020. ^[9]

Sources

1. ↑ Birth: "Massachusetts, U.S., Birth Index, 1860-1970"
   Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 3928 #5361265 (accessed 17 December 2021)
   Name: Baxter Harwood; Birth Date: 1934; Birth Place: Newton, Massachusetts, USA; Volume Number: 83; Page Number: 95; Index Volume Number: 129; Reference Number: F63.M362 v.129.
2. ↑ 1940 Census: "1940 United States Federal Census"
   Year: 1940; Census Place: Newton, Middlesex, Massachusetts; Roll: m-t0627-01614; Page: 1B; Enumeration District: 9-403
   Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 2442 #89591061 (accessed 17 December 2021)
   Baxter L Harwood (5), single son in household of Sumner Harwood (33) in Newton, Middlesex, Massachusetts. Born in Massachusetts.
3. ↑ Baxter Harwood personal memoir, unpublished, p87-104. Manuscript is in possession of his son, Paul Harwood as of Sept 2021
4. ↑ Marriage: "Idaho, U.S., Marriage Records, 1863-1969"
   Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics; Boise, Idaho; Marriage Index For Years 1947-1964
   Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 7849 #375326 (accessed 17 December 2021)
   Baxter Harwood marriage to Ramona Kathleen Koch on 12 Nov 1954 in Ada, Idaho, USA.
5. ↑ memoir op cit p125 - 152
6. ↑ memoir op cit p156 - 191
7. ↑ Form DD214, posted on this page
8. ↑ memoir op cit p326 - 369
9. ↑ personal recollection of their son Paul Harwood on Sept 12 2021