Robert “Buddy” Macklin Harper, Jr., 79, of Decatur, passed away peacefully at his home surrounded by his family on May 9, 2023, due to complications from stroke. He was born on July 21, 1943, in Decatur, Alabama and graduated from Tanner High School in 1961. After he finished high school, he went on to work at Monsanto for thirty-four years—first in production and then in the Chemistry Lab after he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from Athens State. During his tenure at Monsanto, he served as a volunteer firefighter, even traveling to College Station, Texas to gain further industrial fire brigade training at Texas A&M’s renowned Braxton Fire Training Field.
Robert was a dedicated husband to his wife of fifty-two years, Sharron Wood Harper, and a devoted father to their three children. He was heavily involved in a number of his children’s activities, including youth baseball and softball and the Boy Scouts of America, and he and his wife attended almost every one of his daughter’s collegiate basketball games.
Aside from his work and family involvement, Robert was a man of many talents who had a wide variety of interests. He had natural mechanical aptitude and could fix most anything. He was a member of Austinville United Methodist Church, and he was a Master Mason and lifelong member of Athens Masonic Lodge #16. He was an avid sportsman and outdoorsmen who enjoyed fishing and hunting. He treasured the hunting trips that he and his son, Steve, went on—most especially their trips to Colorado to hunt elk. He also loved to watch the Alabama Crimson Tide play football.
Robert was preceded in death by his sons, Tim Harper and Chris Harper. He is survived by and will be greatly missed by his wife, Sharron; a son, Steve Harper, and his daughter, Mary Emma; a daughter, Cindy Harper Humphries, her husband, Thomas, and their daughters, Georgia and June; and a granddaughter, Chloe Harper Wiley, and her husband, Jackson Wiley. The family will hold a private memorial service.
