Steamboat Pilot & Today

Longtime Steamboat Springs resident Leland O. Harms slipped quietly from our lives Jan. 24, 2006, in Grand Junction. He was 77.

Leland Harms was born Sept. 10, 1929, in eastern Colorado. At age 16, he came to Routt County after graduating high school.

Soon thereafter, he met Ilagrace Weber, whom he married in 1947, beginning a 57-year marriage and journey through life.

Their time together was spent mostly in Steamboat Springs, where they raised a family of four.

During the last years of Ilagrace's life, they traveled a great deal and spent many winter months in Mexico, their favorite retreat.

In 1998, Leland suffered a major illness and was transported by helicopter from Mexico to Tucson, Ariz., where he fought to live.

Always a fighter, he survived the ordeal and continued to bless our lives for seven more years.

He eventually moved to Grand Junction, where he finally was able to grow a great garden in a warmer climate.

Longtime residents of Steamboat will remember Leland's fruits stands, the Hilltop Trailer Court and Hilltop Rentals, Sales and Service. Leland readily handed out advice about everything from politics to gardening to the best fishing spots in the area -- and he usually was right.

After losing his wife in 2004, he planned one last car trip, the one he and Ilagrace never managed to take. His daughter Linda Hibbert and his great-granddaughter Leena drove his new van -- purchased for the occasion -- and traveled across the U.S., visiting many friends along the way.

His daughter Cindy Wright and his son-in-law E.G. Hibbert joined them in Boston to spend 10 days in northeastern Canada, mostly on the coastline.

Leland was preceded in death by his wife, Ilagrace Harms.

He is survived by his four children, Linda Harms Hibbert of Loveland, Aletha Harms Dove of Craig, Cindy Wright of Hayden and Leland Ernest Harms of Steamboat; 10 grandchildren; 11 great-grandchildren; and his two sisters, Wilma Stroh of Colorado Springs and Ada Mae Boelter of Delta.

Services were held Jan. 28, 2006, at the United Methodist Church. Family and friends met later at the Community Center to celebrate the life of one remarkable man, Leland Harms.