Harold was born in 1925 in Lebanon, MO. He was one of 12 children born to Amos and Pearl Basnett. As a young boy, he moved to Cardinal, Colorado (near Nederland) with his family in 1932.

He served in the Army during WWII in the Pacific Theatre in the Philippines and Japan beginning in 1944. He was discharged in 1946 and moved back to Boulder where his family had relocated. He met the love of his life, Letha Lappin and they married in 1948. Together they had seven children: four girls and triplet boys who died at birth in 1954.

Being a child of the Depression era, he started working at a young age. He did many odd jobs to help bring home the bacon: cutting and stacking firewood and even cooking for an old miner (and he hated to cook!) During his working life, he also delivered ice and milk, worked on the railroad and traveled around Colorado and nearby states doing construction. The last 25 years of his work life were spent as a backhoe operator, doing many jobs in Boulder and the surrounding mountain communities.

He learned a lot of different things, given the variety of work that he did to make a living. It was that and he perserverance that enabled him to do all his own labor at home, include car maintenance, home remodeling and maintenance, plumbing, electrical and so forth. He could fix anything. He even moved in a little house for "Granny" Lappin and refurbished it, he added onto his own house and remodeled it a few times and he built the detached garage at 3880 19th St. in Boulder.

For all the things he knew and could do, he was still a very humble man. He always just did what had to be done, no fanfare required. He lived a simple life, believed in hard work and perseverance and always put his family first.

He had a few passions and one of them was babies. Together he and Letha cared for nearly 30 babies through the Boulder foster care program while the kids were awaiting adoption.