Retired National Park Service executive James D. Harpster died Dec. 1, 2004, at Hospice of St. John in Lakewood, Colo. Harpster, 78, had been a Denver resident since 1953.  A memorial service was held in Lakewood, Colo.

Harpster, a native of Olney, was a Naval Aviation Cadet at the end of World War II. He went on to earn a journalism degree from University of Illinois in 1947. Among his early career assignments was covering Hollywood for the foreign press subscribers of United Press International.

In 1951, he was married to Barbara (Bobbie) Cass at Los Angeles, Calif. and was almost immediately drafted into the Army. As he completed his Army duty, Army friend and future Jefferson County (Co.) District Court Judge Gaspar Perricone, persuaded Harpster and his wife that Denver was a fine choice for relocation, as it was equidistant from Los Angeles and Olney.

Once in Denver, Harpster resumed his journalism career at the Associated Press, where he worked for about 10 years. He was later regional public affairs director in Denver for the Bureau of Reclamation and the National Park Service.

After retiring from the Park Service in 1987, he and Bobbie served in the Volunteers in the Parks program at a number of National Parks and National Historic Sites around the United States. In 1991, the National Park Service asked Harpster to come out of retirement and become National Park Service liaison to the 50th anniversary commemoration of the attack on Pearl Harbor. The commemoration was held Dec. 7, 1991. He and Bobbie spent more than a year in Hawaii working on the event. They returned to Denver in 1992.

This assignment moved him deeply. For his efforts on behalf of veterans, Harpster was named an honorary member of the USS Arizona Reunion Association. He was a frequent speaker about Pearl Harbor at service clubs in the Denver area.

Harpster frequently volunteered for community service. He was a volunteer at Swedish Hospital, Sheridan Police Department, Jefferson County Library, Colorado Symphony and most recently he was a court visitor, documenting applications for guardianship of the elderly and disabled. He relinquished the court visitor role in just the last few weeks as advancing prostate cancer made it difficult to continue.

People and their stories fascinated Harpster. On one European trip, he met a group of Dunkirk survivors in Belgium at a reunion of the famed 1940 British military evacuation from the European continent. The group treated Harpster like an honorary member. He attended a number of their reunions, including the last in May 2000, and he carried out a lively correspondence with its surviving members until his death.

Harpster is survived by his wife, Bobbie Harpster, and two sons, James D. Harpster Jr., and Brian C. Harpster, all of Denver. Colo.

Published in Olney Daily Mail (IL) ~ December 8, 2004