Lewiston Morning Tribune - March 3, 1978
Mrs. Harlan found dead
The body of Winifred Harlan, 66, of 1303 11th St., Lewiston, who had been missing since Saturday was found Thursday afternoon on the bank of the Snake River near its confluence with the Clearwater.
Lewiston police said two joggers running on the Snake River levee bike route noticed the body at about 3 p.m.
Mrs. Harlan, who was described as having trouble remembering events, walked away from her home at about 7 a.m. Saturday. She was last seen alive at dusk Saturday near Hellsgate State Park.
Police searched the city while sheriff’s deputies and posse members combed the countryside south of Lewiston looking for Mrs. Harlan for four days. Mounted posse members, with chief deputy Wilber Perry, were searching in the Waha area when the body was found at Lewiston.
Medical examiners said Mrs. Harlan died of heart failure. Arterial sclerosis, exposure and possibly the cold water could have been responsible, officials said. Further tests are needed to determine the precise cause of death.
Mrs. Harlan was born Aug. 21, 1911, at Chillicothe, Ohio, to Argo and Nellie Bateman. She moved to Moscow in 1924, and was graduated from Moscow High School. At the University of Idaho she earned bachelor degrees in art and education in 1936. She then attended the University of Oregon at Eugene for one year.
She moved to Orofino in 1941 and a year later, moved to Lewiston. She married George W. Harlan Sept. 16, 1939, at Moscow. He is a timber cruiser for Potlatch Corp.
She was a member of the First United Methodist Church of Lewiston.
Survivors include her husband at the family home; two daughters, Sandra Rogers of Garfield, Wash., and Sara Lauer of Bellevue, Wash.; a son, Gary G. Harlan of Potlatch; a sister, Rhoda Bateman of Moscow; a brother, Vernon Bateman of Moscow, and eight grandchildren. Two sisters preceded her in death.
Services are set for 2 p.m. Saturday at Vassar-Rawls Funeral Home with the Rev. James H. Vance of the first United Methodist Church of Lewiston officiating. Burial will follow at Lewis-Clark Memorial Gardens.
The family asked that memorial contributions be made to the Shriners Hospital for Crippled Children at Spokane or the First United Methodist Church building fund.
Transcribed by Jo Frederiksen, 2014