Charles Harder

Charles Kenneth Harder, age 73, of Mountain Lake, MN, passed away on August 22, 2023, at Laurels Peak Rehabilitation Center in Mankato, MN after experiencing another hemorrhagic stroke. He had been receiving short term rehabilitation at Laurels Peak since June 30 following a hemorrhagic stroke in early June.

Charles was born on June 19, 1950, to Leo and Ruth (Burkhard) Harder in Mountain Lake, MN. After his mother, Ruth, died when he was in the second grade, Charles went to live with his uncle Albert and aunt Bessie’s family for almost two years. When his father, Leo, married Gladys E. Harder in 1959 he returned to living at home with them and his siblings.

He attended kindergarten at the Mountain Lake Elementary School, then he completed Grades 1-6 at the Christian Day School in Mountain Lake, followed by Grades 7-12 in Mountain Lake Public Schools. He was baptized into church membership by Pastor Alvin Kleinsasser in 1966 at First Mennonite Church in Mountain Lake. He graduated from Mountain Lake High School in 1968.

During his teens, he was an active participant in both high school and community choral productions, and he became an accomplished pipe organist. He often played the pipe organ for the Sunday service at First Mennonite.

Following high school he attended Bethel College in North Newton, KS for two years and then transferred to St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN, graduating in 1972. He later obtained a Master of Music degree in choral music from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and completed additional coursework in the Doctor of Music Education program, also at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Charles was a professional musician and music educator. He was a church organist at several churches in Mankato and the Twin Cities over the years, as well as a choral conductor, and he sang bass with several well-known choral ensembles, including the St. Olaf Choir and the Dale Warland Singers. He taught music and was the choral conductor of the high school choir and ensembles at several high schools, including in Lake Crystal, MN, Aurora, IL, and Inver Grove Heights, MN. To reach students earlier in their education, he transitioned later in his career to teaching music to middle schoolers in Inver Grove Heights. After he retired in 2006, he moved back to Mountain Lake.

He enjoyed the outdoors and over many summers he sailed his 36-foot sailboat on Lake Superior. He liked bicycling on rural roads and bike trails and made numerous trips to central Wisconsin. He also enjoyed doing field work and harvesting his brother Gordon’s fields of corn and soybeans. During his retirement he traveled extensively in the U.S., visiting his many friends and enjoying the natural beauty in a variety of areas. He also enjoyed spending winters in France and more recently in Mexico.

Charles was also a skilled organ craftsman. He purchased a pipe organ from a Lutheran church in Newark, NJ, dismantled it, and drove a U-Haul containing the organ parts to his home in Mountain Lake where he reassembled the organ in a space in his house he built specifically for the organ, one of the largest in-home pipe organs in the State of Minnesota.

Charles was a generous and genuinely nice person with a healthy sense of humor. He was resilient and made an amazing recovery following his first hemorrhagic stroke in 2012. He will be missed.

He is survived by his siblings, Gordon (Eva Toews), Lois, Kathleen (Merin Kouay), and Mary (Wes Mark); three nephews, Willmar (Hannah Neufeld), Jordan (Lindsey Edwards), and David (Rachel Byler); three nieces, Elisabeth (Ramont Schrock), Annie (Derek Reese), and Sophia; seven grandnephews, Elias, Amos, Reuben, Jonathan, Andrew, Camden, and Devin; three grandnieces, Anna, Maria, and Annelise; an uncle, Leslie Harder (Gladys Ann Baerg); numerous cousins; and his many friends.

He was preceded in death by his parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.

A memorial service will be held at 3 pm on Sunday, September 3, 2023, at Bethel Mennonite Church in Mountain Lake. Visitation will occur at the church from 2-3 pm, prior to the service.