Meet Harless Hartman, Rosalia

Harless Hartman is a recent arrival to Whitman County, moving here to be closer to her daughter, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Harless was recently hired as foundation coordinator by Whitman Community Hospital Foundation in Colfax, replacing Kimberly DeHart, who has resigned the position and plans to volunteer with the foundation. For the last two months, Harless has been assuming duties from Kimberly, and she worked on the tomosynthesis fund drive for the foundation.

Harless was born in Silver Creek, New York, and attended school there and at her next home in Glendora, Calif. She graduated from Baldwin Park High School in California.

Harless married her high school sweetheart and was a stay-at-home mother for five years with her young son and daughter. Their young marriage did not survive his service in Vietnam, and Harless needed to support her children, so she went on to school.

After graduating as valedictorian of her class at Bryman College, she became a medical and surgical assistant working in dermatology. She found helping people improve their health and appearance gratifying, especially those people disfigured by accidents or by cancer.

When employee hours and insurance were cut in the 1980s, Harless transitioned to a large law firm in downtown Los Angeles. She worked in human resources, safety training, reception, word processing, and in the firm’s international trust fund management.

After a number of years, Harless jumped back into the medical field at City of Hope in Los Angeles. City of Hope specializes in treating cancer, diabetes, HIV and AIDS. Personnel developed synthetic insulin. Specialties include bone marrow and stem cell transplants.

A 212-bed facility, City of Hope has a research center that trains PhD’s in medical research. City of Hope is a not-for-profit clinical research center, hospital and graduate medical school.

As media coordinator at City of Hope, Harless worked with event planning, bone marrow transplant reunions, fund-raising walks, logistics for events, did press releases, and managed social media. She also tracked City of Hope media mentions.

Bone marrow transplant reunions were her favorite part of the position. The reunions were unbelievable because of the thousands of lives saved and the wonder of donors and patients meeting. Cancer survivors wear badges with the years they have survived. There were television cameras and newspaper reporters present, too.

A volunteer with Medicos, Harless was in a group that traveled from Santa Barbara to Guymas, Mexico, to give medical care to the needy. She served as an executive with the Jerry Lewis Telethon for muscular dystrophy and appeared on television during the telethon.

Harless enjoys being nearer to her daughter Karrie Lazcano and grandson Gabriel, sixth grade, and Erik, eighth grade, who attend school at Rosalia. Karrie’s daughter Kaylee and her husband Brandon live in Clarkston with their two children, Anahlee, four, and Weston, two years old.

Harless’ son Michael, Jr., has two children, Chelsea, 15, and Michael III, 14, and they live in Rancho Cucamonga. He has his own logistics business as well as working for another logistics company.

Colfax reminds her of upstate New York. She enjoys trips back to her childhood home. Her uncle, Monsignor Richard Gill, to whom she remained close, died there recently. Her father moved from Silver Creek to California when he was elderly so that she could care for him. She also cared for her elderly mother and step-father. Those experiences led her to see that she enjoys caring for elderly people.

Recipes:

Pozole

1 large can Las Palmas red chili sauce

1 small cans of El Pato tomato sauce

4-5 cans hominy, drained

1 piece of pork butt or 1 chicken (bone-in)

1 large onion, diced

5 cloves garlic

In a large pot, cook meat with onion and garlic, with water 2-3 inches above the level of the meat, or 1/2 pot full of water. Cook thoroughly until meat falls off the bone. Add salt to taste.

Take meat off the bone and strain stock to remove fat and skin pieces. Add chili sauce, tomato sauce, and hominy.

Bring to a boil, then simmer for about 1/2 hour.

Serve with shredded cabbage, cilantro, chopped onions, and lemon or lime wedges.

Pea Salad

1 20-ounce pack frozen peas, thawed in colander

8 slices bacon, fried and crumbled

4 little green onions or 2 teaspoons red onion, minced

1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, cut in small cubes

1/2 cup sour cream

salt and pepper

Toss thawed peas and all other ingredients together, except bacon. Let marinate for a few hours. Add bacon crumbles just before serving.

Strawberry Jello Salad with Pretzel Crust

2 cups pretzels, crushed

4 Tablespoons sugar

1/2 to 3/4 cup butter, melted

8-ounce package cream cheese, softened

8-ounce carton cool whip

1 large box of strawberry Jello

2 packages frozen strawberries, thawed and drained

2 cups boiling water

Mix pretzels with 4 Tablespoons sugar and butter; press into bottom of 13 x 9-inch pan. Bake at 400 degrees F for 6 minutes; cool.

In mixing bowl, fold cool whip into softened cream cheese and 1/2 cup sugar. Spread mixture over cooled pretzel crust. Dissolve Jello in boiling water. Add strawberries to Jello and pour over cream cheese layer. Chill and let set. Cut into squares to serve. Serves 12.

Strawberry

Sponge Cake

8 eggs

8 Tablespoons flour

8 Tablespoons sugar

2 boxes sliced strawberries

strawberry glaze

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Separate eggs. Beat yolks with flour and sugar. Add stiffly beaten egg whites. Fold egg whites into yolk mixture. Grease jelly roll pan and spread batter evenly into pan. Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees F. Cool.

Add the strawberries to the glaze and spread over cake. Frost with whipped cream.