lit a candle 5h agoMy dad called me about this, he did his associate's degree through Eastern Iowa Community College back in the seventies and always said DeBourcy was the reason he stuck with it. Never met the man myself but that's a hell of a thing to be remembered for.
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Harry DeBourcy, known to colleagues and friends in the Quad Cities for his decades of work in community college education, died on October 5, 2026, at the University of Iowa Hospital in Iowa City. He was 81 years old. Harry Carroll DeBourcy Jr was born on January 4, 1945, in…
Harry DeBourcy, known to colleagues and friends in the Quad Cities for his decades of work in community college education, died on October 5, 2026, at the University of Iowa Hospital in Iowa City. He was 81 years old. Harry Carroll DeBourcy Jr was born on January 4, 1945, in Moline, Illinois, to Dr. Harry DeBourcy Sr and Eileen (McCarthy) DeBourcy, and he spent most of his adult life in the Davenport, Iowa area.
He earned a Doctor of Education degree and devoted much of his career to the Eastern Iowa Community College District, where he worked for many years and was remembered by the institution and those who knew him as someone who genuinely loved his work and the people he met through it. Outside of his professional life, DeBourcy was known as mechanically inclined and could fix almost anything. He had a particular fondness for antique cars, drawn to the history and craftsmanship behind them, and he enjoyed boating on the Mississippi River and traveling.
Friends and family described him as a man grounded in his Catholic faith, curious about the world around him, and someone who never met a stranger he could not find something to talk about. He was married to Lila Phelps, who preceded him in death. At the time of his passing he was survived by his sons, Sean (Shane) DeBourcy of Princeton, Iowa, and Ski DeBourcy of Davenport, four grandchildren, a sister, a brother, and his significant other, Deb Goodall of Davenport.
DeBourcy's death was confirmed through an obituary published by the Halligan-McCabe-DeVries Funeral Home of Davenport, which was carried by local outlets including the Quad-City Times and the Rock Island Dispatch Argus. No cause of death has been made public. He passed away at the University of Iowa Hospital in Iowa City, suggesting he had been receiving medical care there, though further details of his final illness have not been disclosed by the family.
His death was met with quiet remembrance from the local community rather than wide public tribute, consistent with his life as a respected but not nationally prominent figure in Iowa education. A Funeral Mass of Christian Burial is scheduled to be held, with cremation already having taken place.
Biography adapted from News reports and the sources cited on this page; death reported by Legacy | Obituary.
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1by People Forever
that's exactly the kind of story these obituaries never capture, glad your dad told you