Visitation will be held from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, November 12, 2026, at the Morrison Chapel of the Bosma-Renkes Funeral Home. His funeral service will follow at 2:00 p.m. at the funeral home. Interment will be at Morrison Mennonite Cemetery.
He was born on March 26, 1942, in Newport News, VA, as the son of Cecil and Mary Nice. He was named after his grandfather J. Harvey Yoder. He graduated from Morrison Community High School in 1960 and was a semi-finalist in the National Merit Scholarship competition in his senior year. Harvey served as a conscientious objector through I-W work at Evanston Hospital for four years from 1964 as an orderly and surgical equipment technician. In 1978, he graduated from Northwestern University with a BSEE degree.
Occupations at which he has worked include engineer, technician at Hewlett Packard, author, salesman, and adjunct professor at DePaul University and Barat College. He also helped his father and mother on the farm. Later, he partnered with his brother to run the dairy farm as the chief mechanic with skills to solve electrical issues as well as welding.
He was a part-owner of Northern Technology Books. In 1977, Northern Technology published a book that Harvey co-authored with W. Weller and A. Shatzel called “Practical Microcomputer Programming: the Intel 8080”.
He volunteered for the Illinois Mennonite Historical & Genealogical Society to set up a library inventory system and assist with computer set up. He frequently came to the rescue of friends and family with computer problems.
He enjoyed cultivating a small garden having garlic and potatoes and was fond of caring for the special sweet plum trees which were given many years ago by a relative. They came to be known by the family as “Wade Plums.”
Harvey has lived in Newport News, VA; Morrison, IL; Glenview, Evanston, Mount Prospect, and Chicago and has attended Science Ridge Mennonite Church in Sterling.
To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Harvey, please visit the floral store. Condolences can be shared at bosmarenkes.com.
