by Gerri Peterson
The 2022 Sandhills Someone Special has lived longer in Hooker County than any other current Mullen resident - Frank Harding, who will turn 101 on Feb. 15, 2023.
Except for the time he spent in the Navy during World War II, from 1942 until Christmas Eve of 1945, his address has been within five miles of the Hooker County courthouse for 100 years.
Harding was born on Feb. 15, 1922, five miles southwest of Mullen on his family’s ranch that was homesteaded by his grandfather in 1887. Only three generations have owned the 160 acres of that original homestead - his grandfather, his mother and him.
He attended District #4 country school four miles from Mullen through eighth grade, and then graduated from Mullen High School in 1939.
In order to attend high school, he rode a horse the five miles to town every day.
The winter of 1936 especially sticks out in his mind because “it was the coldest winter ever!”
He and his brother would ride to town, stable their horses, go to their grandmother’s house to change out of their winter clothing and then go to school before repeating the process to go home.
“It took all day, every day,” he said. “The thing that I remember was that it was cold!”
When Frank was a kid, the road that came into Mullen from the south was on the southwest side of town - and south of the railroad tracks was just a rye field.
Frank said that when people first came to Mullen to homestead, they went north towards water and not south. Those who came up from the south stopped at the Dismal River because there weren’t many places to cross that river.
His grandparents, Esquire and Martha Crain, were some of the first people to live here. His grandfather was on the committee that organized the county.
In the 1930s both of the banks in Mullen went broke, along with the bank in Chicago that his grandfather also used.
All of their neighbors left most families leaving Mullen at that time headed for Oregon to homestead there on a government program.
Frank’s family had property here, which allowed them to stay.
“My grandpa went broke, but he didn’t owe a dime. They were too poor to leave!”
Frank enlisted in the Navy in 1942. He spent three months repairing boats from Pearl Harbor, then learned Morse code and was part of the communication unit for the Seventh Fleet. They landed in Australia and he was part of the New Guinea campaign, working at a radio station where they sent and received messages in code back and forth to ships. They worked up the coast, landing and setting up the base for communications. He was involved in the Battle of the Bismarck Sea and the Battle of Leyte Gulf. After the war ended, he was stationed north of Chicago where he sent teletype messages for a few months before being honorably discharged.
Frank said up until WWII “everything was pretty primitive” in Mullen.
In his 100 years, he has seen some amazing changes, but the biggest was electricity for this area.
“It changed this country enormously,” he said.
He also talked about the changes in ranching and farming, with the biggest being going from doing everything with horses to mechanical.
“The first tractors prior to WWII wouldn’t even seem like a toy to people today.”
Harding married Iva Tucker in 1956. She had a daughter, Sandra, and they had two daughters together, Patricia and Karen. Iva passed away in 1975.
He married Beth (Simonson) Anders in 1979 and gained four more step-children - Richard, Chuck, Cheryl and Gary. Beth passed away in 2016.
Between he and Beth, Frank has 19 grandchildren, 46 great-grandchildren and 5 great-great-grandchildren.
Frank has been a member of the American Legion for 76 years. He has held every office of the American Legion Post #109 in Mullen and is currently the chaplain. He also continues to be a member of the honor guard for military funerals.
“Do you remember Father Mike Koprowski?” Frank asked. The late Father Mike was the American Legion chaplain prior to Frank.
“Especially when we’d get done with a military funeral on a cold day he’d say to us, you guys don’t have me because I’m good, you have me because there’s no one else. I think I’m running into that.”
Frank and Haskel Boyer started County Government Day for the Mullen High School juniors through the American Legion in 1955. Hooker County was quick to start this, as only a few other counties had been holding them prior to Hooker County joining the list. Frank helped with County Government Day for about 60 years.
Frank said he has always been interested in history, but it was writing up the history of Hooker County for County Government Day that really got him into it.
“Curiosity killed the cat,” he said. “If I would have been a cat, I would have been dead a long time ago!”
“As I’ve kept checking in with history, it’s amazing how the same people have been involved in other places.”
Frank has not only been to all 93 Nebraska courthouses, but has also toured all of them as he has researched various topics. He has a photo album full of photos of himself at the courthouses with information on when each courthouse was built.
When the Hooker County Historical Society was formed and then purchased the Old Hotel/Museum, Beth and Frank were among the volunteers who spent spare time there fixing it up. It was in very poor condition when they obtained ownership of it, needing most of the inside rebuilt. The Historical Society worked on it for eight years before opening just part of it to the public originally.
The Historical Society always has ongoing projects for the museum, with the Document Room being among them. Frank envisions his “History Moments” that he has been presenting at the monthly Historical Society meetings and then sharing with the Tribune, being filed in the Document Room so that people can come in and use them as they are researching Hooker County history.
“If I would have spent the amount of time that I have spent messing with history working, I would have a lot more money!”
What’s the secret to living to be over 100?
“I’m a strong believer in a balanced meal and eating a variety,” Frank said.
One of his favorite meals that he eats a few times a month - liver and onions!
He also keeps active. While he enjoys working on his history research, he’s not one to sit for long. He still takes care of his own lawn and walks across town for his mail when the weather permits. How long that walk takes him, “depends on how many dogs I stop to pet and how many people I stop to visit with - I like to visit with people - it might be half an hour to half a day!”
A volunteer all of his life, Frank said “helping your neighbors pays off better than anything.”
Frank has served the Mullen community over the years in many ways besides the American Legion and Hooker County Historical Society he was a charter member of the Hooker County Agricultural Society, a Hooker County Commissioner, a member of the Cedarview Cemetery Board, helped organize the Mullen Fire District and is a member of the St. Joseph Episcopal Church.
“Most of the best things that have been done here was by volunteers,” Frank said.
“If people who have prob
lems work as hard at solving the problems as they do complaining about them, it would be a hell of a lot better.”
Frank said that while he is religious and thinks everyone should have faith in something, he believes that he has been mighty lucky over his lifetime as well.
Many people nominated Frank for the Sandhills Someone Special, here are what some of them had to say.
Jack Cooley: My dad, Lee Cooley, was a neighbor of the Hardings for over 40 years. When he was forced into retirement by rheumatism, he sold his cattle to the Harding brothers (Frank and Forrest) and they rented dad’s place for 20 some years. Frank has lived a life of honor, honesty and integrity, an old family tradition. There is none finer.
Cathy Nichols: No one knows more about our area than Frank. He is great at telling the history too.
Karen Happ: I read a book that I thought he would enjoy and he said, ‘Karen, I have never read fiction, there are too many other things that I want to read. But I don’t know if I’ll have time to get them all read.’
Julie Olson: He is a treasure.
Leslie Roseberry: Frank is the living history of Hooker County. At 100 (almost 101!) years old, he carries Mullen’s history and shares it with attention to details and uses great side stories to tie it all together. What a treasure he is! He is the patriarch of the Harding family and we are so proud of all his accomplishments!
Cheryl O’Brien: Frank was a very caring husband to my mom and has been an awesome dad, grandpa and greatgrandpa.
Jennifer Peters: I have never thought of my Grandpa Frank as a step-grandpa, he has always just been Grandpa. The day I asked if I could call him Grandpa brought the biggest smile to his face. He is one of the kindest, smartest (never challenge him to a game of Trivial Pursuit), most honest men I know. I love him.