R. Lynn Harwell

R. Lynn HarwellSeneca, SC

R. Lynn Harwell, 87, died November 3, 2016 at Cottingham Hospice House in Seneca.

Using his own words, "Born in 1929, on Herbert Hoover's Inauguration Day (a portentous omen?)", son of the late Roddy and Irene Montgomery Harwell.  "I grew up in a small town on the Texas High Plains, in the middle of the Depression and the heart of the Dust Bowl.  Route 66, all dirt then, was within 50 feet of our front porch (we were on the downwind side).  My grandfather had been Division Manager of the fabled XIT ranch in the 1870's (Ojo Bravo Division, in Oldham and Hartley Counties).  While most of my family were ranchers, my father farmed also, and I spent far too much time on a tractor and far too little on horseback."

After undergraduate work (at Univ. of Texas), he farmed and ranched for twenty years, and then chose to return to graduate school, where he loaded up his devoted wife and three children and began his distinguished educational career in Agricultural Economics.  He earned two additional degrees, in agricultural economics, his Masters degree from Texas A & M and his PhD from Oklahoma State and was on the faculty at Clemson University in South Carolina for twenty years.

Since retirement in 1993, he and his late wife ran a beef cattle and meat goat farm.  They did a limited amount of educational work on grazing and meat goat management through public speaking and newsletters, and have hosted numerous groups on the farm including producer groups, college classes, senior citizens and pre-schoolers.

Surviving are daughters, Kristy Lyn Harwell of Seneca, and Karil Harwell Tyler and her husband, Herb Tyler, Jr. of Clemson; sister, Sharon Harwell Hobbs of Vega, Texas; grandchildren, Michael Lynn Tyler and his wife Bronwyn and Christopher Scott Tyler.

In addition to his parents, he was predeceased by his wife Joy Summers Harwell; son, Kurt Summers Harwell; grandson, David Allen Tyler; brothers, Don "Tuff" Harwell and Roddy "Fuzz" Harwell, Jr.; and sister, Shirley Harwell Scott.

Memorial services will be held at 3:00 PM, Sunday, November 6, 2016 in the chapel of Duckett-Robinson Funeral Home, Central and the family will receive friends following the service at the funeral home.

In lieu of flowers memorials may be made to the S.C. Botanical Gardens, Attn: Donations, 150 Discovery Lane, Clemson, SC 29634-0174.

Condolences may be expressed online at www.robinsonfuneralhomes.com or at the funeral home.