Dr. Harold Gene Danford, age 95, of Appleton, passed away peacefully on Tuesday, June 20 at Cherry Meadows Hospice.

Harold was born in Zanesville, OH on January 22, 1928, to the late Howard and Grace (Klug) Danford.  He graduated from Zanesville High School with the class of 1945.  Following high school, Harold attended University of Wisconsin, Madison where he received his BS in 1948, his MS in 1950, and his MD in 1952.  While attending college, he met the love of his life, Patricia Gautsch.  They were united in marriage in 1949 in La Crosse and shared 71 years together until her passing in 2020.

Following a medical internship in Marshfield in 1952, Harold proudly served his county in the U. S. Army.  In 1956, he started an internal medicine residency at the Mayo Clinic.  He then moved to Appleton where he started private medical practice, seeing patients also at St. Elizabeth Hospital, Appleton Medical Center, and Theda Clark Hospital.  He retired in 1990 after 32 years of medical practice.

Harold was an avid sailor and enjoyed spending time on his boat, the Whistling Swan.  He also enjoyed gardening and traveling the world with his wife Patricia.  He was a member of The American College of Physicians.

He is survived by his daughter, Lisa (Ralph) Viator, Lubbock, Texas; two sons:  David (Jean Thierfelder) Danford, Omaha, Nebraska, and Steven Danford, Darboy, Wisconsin; 7 grandchildren:  Andrew, Christopher, Rachel, and Ellen Danford and Tracy, Allison, and Melissa Viator; 5 great grandchildren:  Benjamin, Nathaniel, Charlotte, Gabriel, and Logan.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Howard and Grace, his wife Patricia, and sister, Ardath.

Private family services will be held.  Interment will take place at Highland Memorial Park, Appleton.