Jerrald Ray "Jerry" Harnden

Jerrald Ray Harnden was born September 5, 1941 in Kansas City, Missouri to Sylvester M. and Estelene Harnden.

He was raised in Shawnee, Kansas, the 3rd of five children born to the Harndens. Jerry graduated from Shawnee Mission North High School with the class of 1959. He attended Baker University, Baldwin City, Kansas where he was a member of the Zeta Chi Fraternity, and graduated with the class of 1963. He attended Saint Paul School of Theology, receiving his Master of Divinity in 1971. In 2000 he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity Degree from Baker University.

Jerry was united in marriage to Dee Anne Patterson on June 30, 1963 at the Shawnee United Methodist Church, where Jerry and Dee Anne both attended Methodist Youth Fellowship together as teenagers. Jerry and Dee Anne shared 57 years of love and service together before her death in 2020.

Jerry served over fifty years in ministry in the Kansas East Conference of the United Methodist Church. His appointments included: Baldwin First United Methodist Church as a student pastor from 1961-1963; Edgerton United Methodist Church from 1963-1966; the three point charge of the Methodist churches in Richmond, Princeton, and Greeley from 1966-1970; Marysville United Methodist Church from 1970 to 1974; University United Methodist Church, Kansas City, Kansas from 1974 to 1980; Ottawa First United Methodist Church from 1980 to 1992; Shawnee United Methodist Church from 1992 to 2000; and Richmond United Methodist Church from 2002-2010. In his retirement, he sold real estate through Prestige Real Estate, Ottawa.

Jerry’s life was molded through Methodist Youth Fellowship group as a teenager. He recalled that he chose ministry after a mission trip to Oklahoma where his group worked with Native American and impoverished populations. Upon returning from that trip, he made the choice to make his career in ministry, stating that his eyes were opened to the fact that so many people in the world are hurting and he felt that he could ‘do something about that.’ Because of his positive experience in youth group, he had a special place in his heart for youth ministry. During his early years as a pastor, he and Dee Anne took conference youth on UN mission trips to Washington, D.C. When he was serving University church in inner city Kansas City, Kansas, he began a program to take youth from the area to Camp Chippewa in rural Franklin County each summer. During his time at Ottawa, he sponsored the youth group for many years.

Jerry was an active community member in each of the places he lived. He served on the Richmond, Ks City Council, USD 290 School Board, and the Ottawa Area Chamber of Commerce. He also enjoyed buying and selling real estate and bought several homes in Ottawa to fix up and rent or sell. His younger brother Jim was an integral part of the remodeling of those properties.

Jerry loved spending his free time fiddling around out on the “farm” properties he and Dee Anne owned in Tonganoxie, Kansas and Wellsville, Kansas. They loved hosting family and friends for Fourth of July Picnics, fall hayrack rides, and numerous other parties and picnics that always included S’mores around the campfire, fishing, hiking in the woods, and wagon rides behind the tractor as he toured the farm.

Jerry loved spending time with his family and was part of a tight knit family that included siblings and nieces and nephews.

Jerry is survived by two children, Jonathan Harnden and wife Kendra, Waverly; Marianne Smith, Ottawa; two grandsons, Drew Boeh and fiancé Brynn, Denver, Colorado; Dillon Boeh and wife Celsie, Ottawa; three great-grandchildren Oakley, Kinleigh, and Karson Boeh, Ottawa; a brother, Jim Harnden and wife Cynthia, Lenexa; a sister, Janice Malin and husband, Dan, Shawnee; and several nieces, nephews and cousins. He was preceded in death by his parents, his wife, and two siblings, Sylvester M Harnden, Jr and Joyce Engetschweiler.

Family will greet friends 5:00-7:00pm, Wednesday, January 21, 2026 at Dengel and Son Mortuary, Ottawa. Funeral Services will be held 10:00am, Thursday, January 22, 2026 at the Ottawa First United Methodist Church. Interment will follow at Highland Cemetery, Ottawa, Kansas.

The family suggests memorial contributions to Ottawa First United Methodist Church, Shawnee United Methodist Church, or Saint Jude Children’s Research Hospital c/o Dengel & Son Mortuary, 235 S. Hickory, Ottawa, Kansas 66067.

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