Harold Yarger Obituary

Harold Lee Yarger, age 85, passed away peacefully on February 24, 2026, at his home in Seguin, Texas. Harold was born March 15, 1940, in Ypsilanti, Michigan. After growing up on farms in Michigan and Virginia, he graduated from George Mason High School in Falls Church Virginia and then attended Antioch College. While in graduate school at Stony Brook University he met his wife, Linda. After obtaining his PhD in Physics, Harold was a postdoc in high energy physics at Northwestern University. In 1969, Harold accepted a position at the University of Kansas. While at Kansas, he changed his career focus to geophysics and held a joint appointment at the Kansas Geological Survey and the Univ. of Kansas. Highlights of his time at the Kansas Geological Survey include publication of both an aeromagnetic and a gravity map of the state.

Harold and Linda raised their three children in Old West Lawrence and were members of St. John's Catholic Church. Harold enjoyed attending KU basketball games and running with a university runner's group called the Mad Dogs (named for Rudyard Kipling's "Mad dogs and Englishmen run in the noon day sun"). In 1986 he went to work for Chevron in Denver. At Chevron Harold was a senior scientist who contributed to oil exploration by using his expertise with gravity data and mapping. Harold and family moved to Houston in 1990, where he spent his remaining oil and gas career working in Chevron's Houston and New Orleans' offices. Harold was an associate editor for the journal Geophysics, a flagship journal of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists.

Running was a huge part of Harold's life; many of his best friends were runners. He competed in twenty plus marathons, including the Boston Marathon and the Chevron sponsored Houston Marathon. For many years, he recruited and supervised volunteers for the Houston Marathon registration day. Harold loved to compete whether it was running, shooting hoops, playing poker, horseshoes, or ping pong. He loved vanilla ice cream, coffee and telling small world stories. After retirement, Harold and Linda enjoyed spending time with family and traveling in the U.S. and abroad.

Surviving is his wife of 60 years, Linda Yarger; children Ardis (David) Eveld, Rachel Yarger (Brad Meyer) and Stephen (Kim) Yarger; grandchildren: James Eveld, Anneliese (Evan) Reilly, Will Eveld, Claire Meyer, Haven Meyer, Ella Meyer, Charlsie Yarger and Harrison Yarger; and great-grandchild, Isla Reilly. Harold is preceded in death by his parents, James O. Yarger and Marian (Downing) Yarger, and his brother, Allen Paul Yarger.

A funeral Mass is scheduled for Saturday, March 14, at 11:00 a.m. at St. James Catholic Church in Seguin, Texas. Services entrusted to Tres Hewell Mortuary, Seguin, Texas.

You are invited to sign the guest book at www.treshewell.com. Arrangements are under the direction of Tres Hewell Mortuary, 165 Tor Dr., Seguin, Texas, 78155, 830-549-5912.