Tauni Ellen Harmon

Tauni Ellen Harmon was born on January 19, 1965, in Hampton, Iowa to Terry and Karen Wheeler (Andersen). She graduated from Hampton High School in 1983. She married her first husband, Jeffrey Sporaa in 1984. They had two children together, Elizabeth and Zachary Sporaa. They later divorced. Tauni married her second husband, Germaine Harmon on May 31st, 2002. They had a son together in 2003 named Michael Harmon.

Tauni was employed most of her life with Milwaukee Public Schools starting her career as a paraprofessional and after-school counselor at Thoreau Elementary School. She would often work 12+ hours a day for over a 30-year career span. She would later become the director of the after-school program called Camp Thoreau. While working full-time and raising three kids, she went back to school to receive her Bachelor Degree in Liberal Arts from Upper Iowa University. She then went on to receive her Master Degree in Social Work at Loyola University. She was employed several years after as a social worker for Vincent High School and Townsend Elementary School.

Tauni was baptized at St. John’s Lutheran Church, rural Hampton and confirmed at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Hampton. For the last 10 years, she has been a member of Ascension Fellowship Church, Milwaukee. 

Tauni enjoyed traveling, reading books, tending to her garden, cooking homemade meals for her family, and visiting her family in Hampton, Iowa. She planned to move back home after retirement to be close to her family, especially her sister Tara. She and her sister Tara talked with each other on the phone almost every day. She especially loved spending precious time with her beautiful granddaughter Kailani. They went on lots of fun adventures together: the movies, swimming, the beach, gardening, and playing in the backyard.

Tauni is survived by her husband Germaine Harmon, her children Elizabeth Sporaa, Zachary Sporaa, and Michael Harmon, her granddaughter Kailani Sporaa, her parents Terry and Karen Wheeler, her brother Roddy (Sonia) Wheeler, sister Tara (Tommy Zakeer, niece Brittni Sandoval, nephews Jonathan Wheeler, Tanner Miller, and Christian Miller, and countless other family members she dearly cared for. 

She passed away peacefully at her home in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on November 3, 2024, after a year long battle with colorectal cancer. 

She is preceded in death by her maternal grandparents Hilbur and Irma Andersen, paternal grandparents Delmar and Ives Struthoff, Uncles Rodney Andersen, John Struthoff, and Kent Struthoff, and dear friend and mentor Mrs. Anne Baker.