Harriet Lenore Birk Oberleitner
Harriet Lenore Birk Oberleitner died peacefully on April 24, 2008 at the Hospice of Larimer County, McKee Medical Center, in Loveland, Colorado of the final stage of lung cancer and a nearly two-decade long struggle with rheumatoid arthritis. Her three sons, daughter-in-law, and niece Karen Heasley of New Castle, Pennsylvania were at her side. She was born January 30, 1931, the only child of Perry Wesley Birk and Zetta Myrna Gormley Birk of New Castle, Pennsylvania.
Harriet graduated from New Castle Senior High School in 1948. Shortly after graduation, she began a career in telephone communications that would see her go from being a Bell Telephone Company switchboard operator to being the owner of her own professional services answering center in Sumter, South Carolina in the days before answering machines and digital voicemail.
Harriet married Charles William Oberleitner, also of New Castle, in October of 1949. They had four children together: Charles William Oberleitner, Martin Birk Oberleitner, Vanessa Lenore Oberleitner, and George Clifton Oberleitner.
During the early years of her marriage, the senior “Chuck” Oberleitner was employed by General Telephone Electronics, now Verizon, which took the family from Pennsylvania to Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Sumter, South Carolina; and Moultrie and Milledgeville, Georgia.
Following the death of her husband in 1978, Harriet and her youngest son George moved to what would be her permanent home and longest place of residence Fort Collins, Colorado, where her oldest son Charles “Chuck” Oberleitner lived.
An active outdoors woman, Harriet quickly fell “madly and deeply” in love with the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Taking full advantage of Fort Collins’ bright sunny climate, she became an avid tennis player until the onset of Rheumatoid Arthritis forced her to lay down her racket, although she did not allow it to curtail her social life. A lifelong bridge player, Harriet developed a large circle of friends who all shared her love of a great rubber of bridge.
As arthritis increasingly took its toll on her, Harriet was forced to give up travel and her occasional bus trips with friends to several of Colorado’s favorite gaming centers. Her youngest son George and his wife Teri returned to Fort Collins in 2006, moved in with her, and began assisting her with her medical and home support needs, thus making it possible for her to live at home until her final days.
Harriet was preceded in death by her only daughter Vanessa Lenore Oberleitner Santarone, of Milledgeville, Georgia, in 1977 and her husband of 27 years Charles William Oberleitner, also of Milledgeville, in 1978.
She is survived by her sons: Charles William Oberleitner and his life partner John Lohr, of Los Angeles, California: Martin Birk Oberleitner and wife Sherie, of Moultrie, Georgia: and George Clifton Oberleitner and his wife Teri of Fort Collins, Colorado.
Harriet had many friends throughout the country that will dearly miss her thoughtfulness and kind attention. She lived life fully and passed peacefully and with dignity in hospice, as prescribed by her final wishes. A lifelong devoted lover of animals, her absence is being duly noted by George and Teri’s two cats, Kitty and Princess, who had been her constant companions during her final months.
According to her wishes, Harriet was cremated shortly after her death. The family will announce plans for a final farewell memorial at a later date.
Harriet requested that in lieu of flowers, contributions be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, the American Cancer Society, or the Arthritis Foundation.
Harriet Lenore Birk Oberleitner
January 30, 1931 - April 24, 2008
Goodbye Mom
