John Henry Ten Harkel, 76, of Surprise Ariz., died Saturday, July 12, 2014. He was born to Henry E. and Esther E.(Liebenstein) Ten Harkel in Michigan City, Ind., on Feb. 21, 1938. The family subsequently moved to Phoenix, Ariz., when he was a child. He attended Arizona State University and the University of Utah, receiving his bachelor’s degree in meteorology at Utah. He worked 30 years for the National Weather Service in Phoenix before retiring in 1995. After retiring, he moved to one of the wettest places in the United States, Forks. He loved weather, travel, hiking and adventure. He was considered a reverse snowbird, spending rainy winters in Forks and the summer thunderstorm season at his cabin on Mount Graham. During his tenure in Phoenix he was passionate about adventure, extensively traveling off-road across the Southwest U.S. and hiking and backpacking with friends.

Donations can be made to the Parkinson’s Foundation in his honor at www.parkinson.org. Funeral arrangements were handled by Wickenburg Funeral Home in Wickenburg, Ariz. A memorial will be held on Mount Graham near Safford, Ariz.