John Barrett Harms

Gorman-Scharpf Funeral Home, Inc. - Springfield

1947 East Seminole Street

Springfield, MO

UPCOMING SERVICE

Memorial Service

Oct. 1, 2022

2:00 p.m.

JOHN HARMS OBITUARY

Full obituary will be placed soon.

Published by Gorman-Scharpf Funeral Home, Inc. - Springfield on Aug. 9, 2022.

JOHN HARMS OBITUARY

John Barrett Harms passed away Sunday, August 7, 2022 at Mercy Hospital in Springfield MO surrounded by his wife and close friends. He suffered a traumatic fall several days prior which contributed to a pulmonary embolism that ended his life.
John was born March 26, 1952, in Evanston, Illinois to Marvin William (Bill) Harms Jr. and Nancy Swan Harms. He is survived by his wife Katherine (Kathy) Clerc Galloway Harms. Their only child, Erik William, preceded him in death December 6, 2020. John is also survived by his brother Mark Harms and his wife Tammy Corrigan and his son Curt Harms; his sister Susan Harms and her partner Dan Ellman; cousins Steve Harms and his wife Jean; Carl and his wife Jay Regenstrief; Bruce Harms; Pam Wesenberg and husband John; Char Rearick; Geoff Swan; and Karen and Bruce Piper.
John graduated from New Trier High School East in Winnetka, Illinois class of 1970. He went on to the University of Kansas receiving his BA in 1974. He married Katherine Clerc Galloway October 8, 1977. He continued his studies at KU receiving his MA in 1980, his MPhil in 1984, and his PhD in 1985 in Sociology. They moved in 1985 to Springfield MO to pursue his career as a professor in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology at Missouri State University, recently retiring as Emeritus Professor. Soon after he began teaching, Kathy and John were blessed with a son, Erik William Harms on March 16, 1987-the love of their lives.
John was a devoted father to Erik and enthusiastically coached him in baseball, basketball, and soccer, and when Erik decided to play football only John never missed a single game. He was Erik's first teacher in the art of fly-fishing enabling Erik to land his first trout on a fly rod at the age often. He supported Erik's decision to attend KU as well as his junior year semester abroad to Italy.
John was a popular professor. He was passionate about teaching and brought great enthusiasm into every lecture. John had a genuine gift for teaching, and he was dedicated to mentoring and connecting with his students. He stayed current in his field of study and brought this knowledge to his students in a fashion that was both understandable and relevant. His classes were well-known among MSU students as being tough, but fair, and his outgoing and energetic teaching style earned him high praise in the classroom. He relied less on technology and more on the basics of teaching... being knowledgeable, accessible, organized, and caring. He treated students with respect and welcomed them as partners in the learning experience. He viewed mentoring as an important part of his teaching responsibilities and developed strong relationships with those students who sought him out. John taught a range of courses in his time at MSU, including Work, Industry & Society; Social Deviance; Introduction to Sociological Theory; Public Sociology and Community Studies; Advanced Sociological Theory; and Food in Society.
John's scholarly interests were mainly focused on developing a unique approach to public sociology that combined elements of Social Capital; Political Economy; Food and the Environment; and Community Studies. Towards the end of his career, his research was focused on local, regional, and state-wide Social Capital Studies that tracked levels of social capital and civic engagement. He also studied the intersection of social capital, local community, and sustainable food systems in the Ozarks.
John was committed to service in both his professional and community life. He served on and chaired numerous university, college, and departmental committees while at MSU, and he served as sociology program coordinator from 2007-2020, during which time he led the development of the program's emphasis on public sociology. The program engaged students in community-based learning, and brought the community into the classroom, demonstrating the value of the sociological imagination in everyday life.
Throughout his career, John was active in the American Association of University Professors
(AAUP), where he served as vice president of the Missouri conference, receiving the AAUP's William S. Tacey Award for service in 2015. He also received several awards for his teaching and service in his time at MSU, including the University Service Award in 2008, the College of Humanities and Public Affairs Service Award in 1999. John was an active member of the Midwest Sociological Society, regularly serving as an elected officer and on committees for nearly 40 years.
John was an active and engaged member of the Springfield community serving on several initiatives, including being a member of the steering committee for the 2011 Springfield Greene County Community Focus Report. In more recent years he contributed leadership on the Ozarks Regional Food Policy Council 2012-2020.
John's main passion outside of academia was sports-all kinds. Tennis, hockey, and soccer in high school. He played as goalie on the soccer team at New Trier all four years. He went on to start a soccer league at KU and run it entirely by himself for two years there. He also played pick up basketball since his youth and that continued through high school, college and during his time at MSU with his colleagues and students. At the age of 40 he was told that his basketball days were over and his choices for sports were golf, swimming, or bike riding. Hence, he bought his first Bianchi bike and became obsessed with riding. He trained for the local MS 150 bike rides to raise money for the Multiple Sclerosis Society in honor of his department head's wife. He earned 13 ribbons for completing the yearly 150 miles in one weekend.
When John was at KU he was introduced to fishing. First for bass at local well-known ponds and later to fly fishing for trout at Roaring River in Missouri, Rockbridge Trout Farm and several years in Colorado rivers on special vacations. He and a group of guy friends fished twice a year at Rockbridge for the last 21 years. Kathy and John also had a group of four families that camped every year for over 20 years at Paddy Creek campground, enjoying the outdoors.
In 1994 John started up another yearly get away with nine college friends to play "Liar's Dice (LD) at various venues. He fondly regarded them as his "LD Brothers."
And then there was the "birding." He and close friends had many trips to South Texas, southern Arizona, and other locations. He identified 445 birds in North America on his life list.
John had a cadre of lifelong friends as well as colleagues, his loving wife and family that will greatly miss him and all the love and humor he had to offer. He was extremely loyal in all his relationships. He made the best of any situation, and he was always true to his word.
In lieu of flowers, contributions are suggested to the John B. Harms Sociology Scholarship, c/o Missouri State University Foundation, 300 S Jefferson Avenue, Springfield, MO 65806. Funeral service will be held Saturday, October 1, 2022 at 2:00 PM in Gorman-Scharpf Funeral Home.

Published by Gorman-Scharpf Funeral Home, Inc. - Springfield on Aug. 9, 2022.