Obituary of Shirley Harder

Shirley Downing Harder, of Chapel Hill, passed away on August 17, 2023, at the age of 88. Shirley was born in Fayetteville, NC to Thaddeus Dean Downing and Cornelia Clark Downing in 1935, and graduated from Fayetteville High School in 1953. Shirley went on to earn a Bachelors of Science in Medical Technology from the University of North Carolina, graduating in 1957. That same year, UNC won a National Championship in basketball, a wonderful senior year for this true blue Tar Heel!

Shirley was a sweet, kind, Southern lady with a quiet determination. After graduation she went on to work at Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital in Greensboro, NC, and then for the department of Pharmacology at the UNC School of Medicine as a Research Medical Technologist. She later earned a Masters of Science in Biochemistry from the University of North Carolina and spent the remainder of her career working as a research scientist for the Environmental Protection Agency retiring after 46 years at the age of 85.

Shirley was an avid Tar Heel fan her entire life. She loved attending Tar Heel basketball and football games or finding a spot in front of a television set anywhere in Chapel Hill to cheer on the Heels. She enjoyed playing the piano, and loved a range of music from classical to jazz to beach music. Her other interests included tennis, swimming, oil painting, spending time at the beach, attending the NC Symphony and Ballet, viewing musicals and plays, and gardening. She was a member of the Chapel Hill Garden Club in earlier years and maintained her love of flowers.

Most of all, she cherished her family and friends and loved spending time with them for any occasion, but especially for holidays, birthdays, her “Lunch Bunch”, and “Girl’s Night Out.” A devoted wife, mother, sister, aunt and friend she will be missed by many whose lives she touched. She was predeceased by her husband, Jon Shannon Harder, Sr, and her son, Jon Shannon “Chip” Harder, Jr., brothers Harold Dean Downing, Sr., and Billy Clark Downing, and sister-in-law Jane M. Downing. She is survived by her sister Ruby Downing Beckman (Don) of Rockford, Illinois, her daughter Lynne K. Harder of Chapel Hill, her sister-in-law Sue Ellen Downing of Palm Bay, Florida, and her nieces Cynthia J. Downing, Susan D. Downing, and Melanie D. Thurman (Stan), nephews H. Dean Downing, Jr (Johnna), Thaddeus P. Downing (Laura), C. Thomas Downing (Norma) and Steven D. Beckman (Andrea), and many great nieces and nephews, and great-great nieces and nephews who she loved very much.

The family will receive visitors on Friday August 25 from 2-3 at the University Presbyterian Church at 209 E. Franklin St., Chapel Hill followed by a memorial service at 3pm. Burial immediately following the service at the Chapel Hill Memorial Cemetery.

Donations are welcome to the American Heart Association, the Jim and Betsy Bryan Hospice Home at UNC Health Care, and the University Presbyterian Church.