Robert Foster Harwell, 91, of Huntsville passed away March 3, 2023 following a brief illness.
Born in Lewisburg, Tennessee to E.B. and Louise Coffman Harwell he attended Lambuth College where he played basketball, then served in the Navy aboard the USS Juneau during the Korean War (where he met his wife Ann during a USO dance in Philadelphia), and returned to finish his Engineering degree at The University of Tennessee in Knoxville.
He came to Huntsville in 1961 with NASA working on the Mercury, Skylab and Apollo missions plus Shuttle payloads, before retiring. After a brief stint at Teledyne Brown he enjoyed many retirement years with friends at Trinity UMC, his grandchildren, golf and Tennessee sports. He was a loyal Volunteer.
He is preceded in death by his parents, wife Ann, brothers Brown and Cecil, and daughter Cynthia. He is survived by his children Robert Harwell Jr (Barbie), Kevin Harwell (Melody), David Harwell, and Amy Tomlin (Brett) all of Huntsville; grandchildren Emily Harwell DeGraaf (Adam) of St. Louis, R. Foster Harwell III of Dallas, Sarah Tomlin of Huntsville, Foster Tomlin of Huntsville, Ashley-Marie Jolley (Joe) of Albertville, and Brittney Liebbe (Greg) of Daphne; and three great-grandchildren.
Services will be held at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, where Mr. Harwell was a member, on Saturday, March 11 at 1:00 pm.
In lieu of flowers memorials may be made to St. Thomas-World Mission Fund, 12200 Bailey Cove Road, Huntsville, AL 35803.
