This is Harlan's daughter, and the purpose of this gfm is to try to help pay for my father's funeral expenses. If the fundraiser exceeds it's goal then I'll use the rest to pay for my father's storage or the family phone bill, or whatever else comes up related to my dad.

The funeral home Perches is also accepting donations directly, please feel free to reach out to them.

It feels like my dad knew everyone in town. Whenever my brother or I went to work with him, it felt like everyone just wanted to talk to him for hours. We'd drive across town with him and everyone would tell us how much they loved our dad. Dad would come home after long days, telling us stories of everyone he grew up with or worked with throughout the years. I joked that my Dad was actually the social butterfly of the family, but it was true. In the wake of this crushing loss, I have felt how loved he was through all the people who've reached out to us. Just like he told me and my late brother about everyone, people are telling me that he talked about us all the time, too.

It felt like my dad adopted all our friends, in a way. He still asked me about people I hadn't had over in years. He really was meant to be a dad, and would go out of his way to help take care of and empathize with so many people. We lost my brother and he never stopped carrying him in his heart. We learned of my half brother Dan, and my dad got to be a grandpa. He tragically never got to meet that side of the family and my brother, but he talked about them all the time to me.

My dad seemed gruff, but he put a lot of heart into things and thought very seriously about what it all meant. He cared what impact he had on people, and whether he'd done right by all of us. I know he did his best every day, and I miss him so much. I wish I'd had more time with him, but I'm so, so grateful for the time that we did have. We had a great father-daughter relationship, we were best friends, we took care of each other and kept each other in our thoughts and little daily actions every day.

He was so loved. I was loved, you were loved. I know he'd tell us all to keep going, so we have to try. Even if you can't help with the funeral expenses, we are going to all need each other. Not just this week, or this month, or year. I'm going to try my best not to lose touch with everyone, but I'm overwhelmed and lost. So please be patient and keep reaching out to our family, and we'll do the same.

Thank you.