Tauni Ellen Harmon

Born on January 19, 1965, in Hampton, Iowa to Terry and Karen Wheeler (Andersen). She graduated from Hampton-Dumont High School in 1983, and married her first husband, Jeffrey Sporaa, shortly after on December 29^th, 1984. They had two children together, Elizabeth and Zachary Sporaa. After 16 years of marriage, they divorced in 2001. Tauni married her second husband Germaine Harmon on May 31^st, 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 off as a paraprofessional and after-school counselor at Henry David Thoreau school. She often would work 12+ hour days for over a 30-year career span. She would later become the director of the after-school program there called Camp Thoreau. While working full-time and raising three kids, she went back to school to receive her Bachelor’s in Liberal Arts from Upper Iowa University. Then she went on to receive her Master’s in Social Work at Loyola University. She was employed several years afterward as a social worker for Vincent High School and Townsend Elementary School.

Tauni enjoyed traveling, reading books, tending to her garden, cooking homemade meals for her family, and visiting her family in Hampton, Iowa. She especially loved spending precious time with her beautiful granddaughter Kailani. She was especially close to her sister Tara also, and talked with her on the phone almost every day.

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 yearlong 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, first husband Jeffrey Sporaa, and dear friend and mentor Mrs. Anne Baker.

Visitation will be held at Ascension Fellowship Church, 2429 West Hampton Avenue, Milwaukee, Wisconsin on Saturday, November 16, 2024 at 12:00 PM. Celebration of Life will be held at 2:30 PM at Exotic Deco and Event Planning, 8271 West Brown Deer Road, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 

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