Who is Robert Harter, you ask? Have you heard the saying:
"Those who can do,
those who can't teach,
those who can't teach teach teachers"?
    I have not taught too many teachers, but some students have accused me of being unable to teach (usually in a little kinder words), so I guess I fit into the last category.  In deference to those students, on July 1, 1999 I retired after 30 years of university teaching.   My primary teaching responsibility was Soil Chemistry --- well, I enjoyed it, whether you do or not! You are welcome to browse through my page and connections if you wish. You will get some idea of where I have been and what I am finding to do in retirement.  If you are already bored, I don't want to keep you longer; you are free to hit the back button any time you wish.

My Background
    Are you still with me? In that case, I will ramble on. I grew up on farms in western Ohio (Darke Co.) within about 10 miles or so of the spot where in 1817 my great-great-great-great grandfather, Frantz Harter (at 58!!), and 7 of his 8 sons settled in "Maple Swamp" and began cutting the virgin timber to carve out a farm. They say that you can take the boy off the farm but you cannot take the farm off the boy. My wife (a city gal from Providence, RI) says it is true. I do get nostalgic once and a while, but my memory is not yet so bad that I forget just why I left the farm ---- it is a lot of Hard word and Long hours! Particularly on a dairy farm - we raised registered Brown Swiss.
Milked them too, by the way 

    Figuring there must be an easier way to make a living, I decided to attend college, and found a nice sheltered life. As a result, here I am in New England. By now, I am sure I am boring 99.9% of you. For the 0.1% still interested you can check out my vita.  Or if you are interested in my family life that can be found at our family site.


My (former) Job
    Yeah, I did really need to do something once and a while, and a couple of "somethings" that I did was teach two Soil Science courses in the Department of Natural Resources. One course, Soils and Environmental Quality, was at the Junior level and the other, Chemistry of Soils, at the Senior/Graduate level. If you would like to see me pretending to work you are welcome to visit my former office.  Unfortunately, the Soil Science program that I worked so hard to build collapsed after my retirement, and in 2003 was discontinued by the university.
    Professors are also expected to do some research. My primary interest over the years was on the reactions that occur at surfaces. To find out what I have done in this area you can take a look at my publication list.
    Now I have the official title of "professor emeritus", which has some perks such as a free parking permit, access to the library, and continued availability of some computer  storage space to maintain  nonsense such as this website.  

My Retirement activities
    It seems that as many people get older they begin to develop interest in their past. I have joined this group, so if you are curious about my background (I cannot imagine why you would be unless you are a relative!) you are welcome to peruse my ancestor pages.  Among other things, I have fallen heir to the extensive research files of my father's fifth cousin.  He collected extensive Harter family information the hard way, before the internet and e-mail allowed genealogists to easily communicate and share data.  I have been busy entering his research in to a database and continuing to accumulate information on the descendants of Johann Georg Harter, born about 1729 in Germany, died about 1800 in Virginia.  I also have a website for J. Georg Harter descendants.  This is a closed site, so if you are a descendant give me your email address and I can give you access.
    For many years I have been interested in photography and looked forward to retirement when I could devote more hours to this pursuit. Photography is a lot like fishing (which I also enjoy): to be successful a person must often be very patient in finding just the right view and just the right light conditions.  My "hero" is Ansel Adams, but I have never been able to look at a scene and see in it what he could see.  As a result, catching the perfect shot has usually been a matter of luck - and I have been occasionally lucky - a few of my shots have even won awards.  Now I have a bit more time, but I still tend to be a bit too impatient in my photographic attempts.
    My wife and I enjoy travel, and in September 1999 we decided to invest in a motor home.  Between Oct 1, 1999 and March 20, 2000 we drove almost 13,000 miles, visiting the southwest in the fall, and spending most of the winter in Florida.  I have also been a lifelong bird watcher, and in Florida I was able to attempt bird photography, something I had long wanted to try.  It was really difficult to experience 80 degree weather when everyone in New England was shivering and shoveling snow.   We have continued to spend the winter in Florida, and during the summer of 2001 we traveled from New Hampshire to California, from Omaha to Marysville, CA following the journal a distant relative kept during his emigration via mule and wagon in 1864.  This experience combined genealogy and photography interests, and has culminated in publication of a book on travel to California in the mid 1860s.
    I am absolutely convinced that my relationship to God has been ultimately critical in whatever successes I have enjoyed in life. He has guided and provided throughout my life, and He still does.  You can go here for a short testimony of that guidance. There is no way I can repay my debts to Him, and if I could the concept of God's grace would be meaningless anyway. In my small way, however, I thank Him by volunteering for Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization (ECHO) and for the Mobile Missionary Assistance Program (MMAP).  Even here I get far more than I can give.  I am still involved with Durham Evangelical Church, but since we have been traveling nearly half the year the involvement is much less than it was.

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