Richard Gerald Harber

Richard Gerald Harber, 98, peacefully passed on Monday, July 24, 2023. He and his wife Gerry recently moved to Guntersville, Alabama from Southern California to be close to family. Richard, or as some called him, Dick, was born in Los Angeles. He was raised by Albert and Goldie Harber, where they lived in a small home in Colton, California. Dick’s father worked as a train mechanic and his mother was a telephone operator. Dick experienced a boyhood with strict boundaries and little extravagance. One of his joys was when he got a home projector and was able to show cartoons to his friends at his house. He could not afford many films, so they often watched the same one many times. He and a friend began developing and printing pictures for neighbors when he was about 15 years’ old to help raise money for things like bicycles, fireworks and cars. An interest for film and its mechanisms was showing itself early and would ultimately become a bigger part of his life. Dick developed a love for music at a young age. His path began with the organization called the National Institute of Music and the Arts, who brought out-of-work musicians as door-to-door salesmen to unsuspecting mothers getting them to sign up children for a year of lessons. He played the violin and earned the coveted position of first chair. He marched in the high school band with the accordion. Dick credited his love for music as a large influence that changed his life. He spoke glowingly of lessons from famous musicians and being in an over 100-person orchestra that played at the San Francisco World’s Fair. The end of high school saw him drafted into the army where he demonstrated enough talent to be in the Army Air Corps during the WWII conflict. The young private trained for crew chief responsibilities for the B-24 and C-47 glider tow operations that were to take part in the D-Day invasion. At the last minute, Dick was transferred to C-46 squadron that was on its way to support the China Hump operations. His children have often credited this change for the reason they are alive today. Dick was honorably discharged as a sergeant from the 15th Combat Cargo Squadron and earned the Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal with One Oak Cluster among many other decorations and citations. He returned from the war, married and pursued a degree with his wife and his wife’s mother. They graduated together on the same day from Redlands College. All three found teaching jobs at local schools. Dick was showing interest in the audio-visual elements being utilized in classrooms at the time. He was not pleased with the elementary school situation; seeing administrative and parental ambivalence, he was growing restless. In spring of 1950, there was a State Level meeting in San Diego of the Audio-Visual Association. Dick and his wife both attended where they met leaders from the University of Southern California ‘s film school, Dr. Lester Beck and Bill Mehring. Dad fell in love with movie making and used the rest of his GI bill to begin his studies at USC. By the time he graduated, Bob Hall, then head of the film department, asked him to join the new staff production unit that would be making films for the university and other sponsoring units. He made about $1.50 per hour, which translates to about $3,000 a year. In 1954, the production unit was called upon to make a film of a lecture that a Professor Gage of the Art Department was giving on Abraham Lincoln. Well, what do you know? Here was the man my dad had seen a few years earlier at Redlands, and he was going to make a film of his work. The film was shot in five days. It took two or three weeks for him to edit the captivating experience of watching the sculptor carve the bust of our civil war president while giving an abbreviated biography at the same time. THE FACE OF LINCOLN won the Academy Award for Best Two-Reel Short Subject in 1955. Dick’s group went on to make a whole series of films on sculpturing with Mr. Gage, for National Educational Television, now called PBS. Although the movie business was booming at the university and across the industry, at home, Dick suffered through a painful divorce. Fortunately, God brought an angel to him in his new love, Gerry. Both Dick & Gerry continued to work in their respective fields, she as a Los Angeles City School Teacher and Dick earning his full professorship. His focus was primarily camera and editing, and a passion for technical excellence inspired leaders in the filmmaking industry. After 40 years at the USC Film school, Dick retired in 1990 and the couple moved to Palm Springs where they built their dream house. They traveled all across the world, enjoying their time together. Dick occasionally helped Habitat for Humanity with building houses for needy families in between a few rounds of golf with local friends. The two of them were married for 52 years at their passing. Dick is survived by his three children, four grandchildren and six great grandchildren.

Richard Gerald Harber

April 29, 1925 - July 24, 2023