Harry Reizer of Lompoc passed away on January 3, 2007. The visitation service will be, Sunday, January 7, 2007, from 1 to 2 pm at Starbuck-Lind Mortuary. The funeral Service will follow at 2 p.m.

Harry Reizer was born and raised in the Midwest. There he gained the values he maintained throughout his life. He was born in Freeport, Illinois, April 19, 1916 and grew up in Dubuque, Iowa. Harry built his life with hard work and perseverance learned from his extended family. His unwavering tenacity earned him a reputation of being a hard working, honest and no room for mediocrity kind of guy. As a youth during the Great Depression, Harry grew bell peppers in the fertile soil deposited on an island in the Mississippi to assist his family's income.

Harry was a lifeguard when he met his wife, Dawn, by the Mississippi where he would swim the mile width multiple times a day. He and his wife married on October 12, 1940 on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi. Harry and Dawn always valued the beauty and serenity of Gods creations and canoed into retirement.

Harry worked as a laborer in the CCC and later in a door and sash company in Dubuque. As World War II progressed, he joined the army and served in the 36th Infantry in the European Theater. Upon return from the war he worked in Dubuque but then re-enlisted. His military career dictated much of the next 25 years of his life, but also provided opportunities that included duty in Dubuque, Iowa, Columbus, Ohio, Tokyo, Japan, Champaign, Illinois, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and Santa Barbara, California. With family in tow Harry's journeys took him to the Red Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, Khartoum, Sudan, Cairo, Egypt, Rome and Genoa, Italy, Garmisch, and Munich, Germany, Athens, Greece and Geneva and Zurich, Switzerland. Harry was stationed on the island of Koje Do, during the Korean War. While they lived in Ethiopia, Harry and Dawn were twice invited to dinner, with Emperor Haile Selassie in his Imperial Palace. He served as Army recruiter in Santa Barbara for six years at which time he retired from the military and joined the U.S. Forest Service. Harry's final job was as the Supply Management Representative at the Naval Post Graduate School in Monterey, California. In 1973 he retired and Dawn and he began years of travel in which they roamed close to a hundred thousand miles and saw nearly two-thirds of the continental U.S. While Harry slowed down the later part of his 90 years, his death was unexpected, and he will be missed by all who knew him.

He was a long-time member of the Lompoc Elks Lodge #2274, and made many beloved friends from that organization. He is survived by his wife of 66 years, Dawn Reizer of Lompoc; two sons, David and his wife Judy Reizer of Payson, Arizona, and James and his wife Evalyn Reizer of Lompoc; grandchildren Krystina Pesterfield of Mesa, Arizona, HM3 Bradley Wright of Bethesda, Maryland, and Heather Wright of San Jose, California; great-grandchildren, Kaitlyn, Abbigayle and James Pesterfield of Mesa, Arizona, a nephew and niece Roger Reiser and Vickie (Reiser) Anderson, and families.

Harry can be remembered by all who knew of those who read this message, by sharing your love or just a kind word to a friend or a stranger.

Arrangement are under the directions of Starbuck-Lind Mortuary.