Harold Lee Zbinden

On October 23, 2023, Harold Lee Zbinden died at home in Birmingham. He was 88. He was born on June 12, 1935 in a German-American family that measured love in finished chores. He learned that neighborhoods remember who helps without being asked. He worked fleets that argued with current and schedules. A barge deck grease rag labeled with shifts meant payday still answered. Colleagues still mention a barge deck grease rag labeled with shifts. He married Dorothy in 1957. They kept a house that stayed modest when the neighborhood did not. They raised two daughters through public schools and ordinary weather. After Dorothy died in 2016, he kept the routines that still made sense: the walk, the garden, the Sunday call. Neighbors remember someone who swept the sidewalk past the property line when weather had been unfair. He preferred the hour before a town fully wakes. Birmingham was home enough that he never rehearsed an introduction. The extra coffee is still in the thermos.