July 12, 1919 - September 22, 2003

 Services for Harlan R. Farrens, 84, were September 27, 2003 at Decatur United Methodist Church with Rev. Philip Sloat officiating.  Ethelyn Brewer was organist and she and Shirley Giles were vocalists.  Burial was in Hillcrest Cemetery, Decatur.

He was born July 12, 1919, on a river bottom farm southeast of Decatur to Bryan Clyde and Ella Emma Marie (Deman) Farrens.  He died September 22, 2003, at the Burgess Health Center in Onawa, Iowa, from heart complications.

Raised on the family farm, he graduated from Decatur High School in 1937.

January 3, 1942, he married Hazel Liveringhouse in Los Angeles, California.  They spent the WW II years three while he worked as a machinist.  Following the war, the couple returned to Nebraska and settled in Wayne, where they owned and operated restaurants and steakhouses for 30 years.

Hobbies included fishing and hunting in his youth and golf in his later years.  He was a master gardener throughout his life.

His parents preceded him in death.

Survivors include his wife of Decatur; son and daughter-in-law, Doug and Carol Farrens of Omaha; daughter and son-in-law, Debra and Robert Proett of Lincoln; six grandchildren, Susan Keogh and husband Cory; Jennifer Farrens and fiance Luke Rickley, John and Jeremy Farrens, Dawn Nider and husband Jason, and Justin Proett; two great-grandsons, Jack and Will Keogh; brother and sister-in-law, Wilbur and Alyce Don Farrens and sister and brother-in-law, Joan and John Siemonsma, all of Decatur; cousins, nieces and nephews.