Winifred Rachel Abbe Harms
1982 - 2025
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Winifred Rachel Abbe Harms—known to many as Winnie—passed away in Amsterdam on July 29, 2025, at the age of 43.
She was born on May 23, 1982, in Rock Springs, Wyoming, the only child of Abbe Bunting, a lifelong artisan and writer, and Greg Harms, an instrumentation technician at General Chemical, and a classical pianist. Winnie was also the only grandchild of Frank and Judith Bunting, and over the years, she became more like the youngest member of the Bunting family.
From an early age, Winnie's intelligence, imagination, and creativity were evident. She loved to read, sing, dance, and draw. Her wit and sense of humor were an endless source of delight to her family.Though she explored many artistic paths—playing guitar and taking voice lessons and earning a Master of Floriculture diploma from Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania—Winnie ultimately found her lasting expression as a poet. She published her first writing in her high school literary magazine and attended the "Great Books" program at St. Thomas Aquinas College in California.
Winnie experienced profound loss throughout her life. Her father died in 1995, followed by her beloved grandfather Frank ("Paka") in 2002, and her first husband, Brian Ledoux of New Jersey, in 2008. These losses were immense, but she persevered, incorporating that pain and loss in her poetry.
She called many places home, including Rock Springs and Green River, Wyoming; Belvidere, Nebraska; Manhattan, Illinois; Barrington, New Jersey; and Philadelphia. For much of her adulthood, she lived as an American expatriate in Europe, in the spirit of literary predecessors she admired: Beat poets Alan Ginsberg, William Burroughs, and her mentor Eddie Woods.
In 2010, she met Frenchman Guillaume Brondy at Chamounix Mansion Youth Hostel in Philadelphia. They married in France and made their home there until divorcing in 2015. Winnie then moved to Amsterdam to work with Eddie Woods and take part in the art colony Ruigoord's Fiery Tongues poetry festival, which remained important to her.
Winnie made friends easily wherever she went. Her irrepressible personality left a lasting impression on everyone she met. There was an excitement about her. She loved conversation, smoking and drinking, music, laughter, and simply having a good time.
She wrote poetry wherever life took her—at home, in cafés and bars, on trains and buses, even in hospitals and psychiatric wards. The volume and quality of her work were remarkable. Her efforts resulted in two published books of poetry, In Harms Way and October 22, with many other poems appearing in journals and magazines.
Winnie battled mental illness, addiction, and the effects of trauma throughout much of her life. These experiences, though hard, provided material for her work and helped form the essence of it. The often-times rawness of the subject-matter combined with her lyricism resulted in poems that could be both shocking and beautiful. Of In Harms Way, one reviewer wrote:
"She taps into the deep personal and collective trauma of our age and does so with an almost off-the-cuff feel devised by skillful and often playful handling of language and metaphor.... The imagery is dense and triggering and the metaphor is gritty and contemporary. Particularly poignant are the poems that address anguish and loss within carefully wrought and, for the most part, tightly controlled expression.... The words on the page are sticky, sugary, sexy, and full of fluid(s), with gleefully rampant enjambment." —Erin Russell, The Holland Times, September 9, 2013
Later, Winnie (now using the moniker win harms, exclusively) expanded her artistic repertoire to include performance, mixed media, soundscapes and collaborative works. She started and helmed Rough Night Press, which contributed significantly to the avant-garde art scene in Amsterdam, hosting spoken word events throughout the city. She collaborated widely and mentored young poets.
Winnie died by suicide on July 29, 2025. She burned brightly and brilliantly—just not for as long as we had hoped. She will be deeply missed by her mother, Abbe Harms; her uncles, Andrew and Tony Bunting; and her many friends and extended family, including her aunt and uncle in Colorado, Darrell and Alison (Harms) Cejka, and many "Harms" cousins, as she affectionately referred to them. She was preceded in death by her father, Greg Harms; uncle John V Harms; grandfather Frank D Bunting, husband Brian Ledoux; grandmother Judith Bunting; and grandparents John C and Barbara Harms.
For further information regarding Winnie's work:
winharms.wordpress.com or roughnightpress.wordpress.com
A Celebration of Life will be held on May 15, 2026, from 05:00 PM to 09:00 PM at Log Cabin 700 W Lippencott Lane, Haddon Heights, NJ 08035 Please contact Abbe Harms abbe.harms@icloud.com with any questions.
She was born on May 23, 1982, in Rock Springs, Wyoming, the only child of Abbe Bunting, a lifelong artisan and writer, and Greg Harms, an instrumentation technician at General Chemical, and a classical pianist. Winnie was also the only grandchild of Frank and Judith Bunting, and over the years, she became more like the youngest member of the Bunting family.
From an early age, Winnie's intelligence, imagination, and creativity were evident. She loved to read, sing, dance, and draw. Her wit and sense of humor were an endless source of delight to her family.Though she explored many artistic paths—playing guitar and taking voice lessons and earning a Master of Floriculture diploma from Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania—Winnie ultimately found her lasting expression as a poet. She published her first writing in her high school literary magazine and attended the "Great Books" program at St. Thomas Aquinas College in California.
Winnie experienced profound loss throughout her life. Her father died in 1995, followed by her beloved grandfather Frank ("Paka") in 2002, and her first husband, Brian Ledoux of New Jersey, in 2008. These losses were immense, but she persevered, incorporating that pain and loss in her poetry.
She called many places home, including Rock Springs and Green River, Wyoming; Belvidere, Nebraska; Manhattan, Illinois; Barrington, New Jersey; and Philadelphia. For much of her adulthood, she lived as an American expatriate in Europe, in the spirit of literary predecessors she admired: Beat poets Alan Ginsberg, William Burroughs, and her mentor Eddie Woods.
In 2010, she met Frenchman Guillaume Brondy at Chamounix Mansion Youth Hostel in Philadelphia. They married in France and made their home there until divorcing in 2015. Winnie then moved to Amsterdam to work with Eddie Woods and take part in the art colony Ruigoord's Fiery Tongues poetry festival, which remained important to her.
Winnie made friends easily wherever she went. Her irrepressible personality left a lasting impression on everyone she met. There was an excitement about her. She loved conversation, smoking and drinking, music, laughter, and simply having a good time.
She wrote poetry wherever life took her—at home, in cafés and bars, on trains and buses, even in hospitals and psychiatric wards. The volume and quality of her work were remarkable. Her efforts resulted in two published books of poetry, In Harms Way and October 22, with many other poems appearing in journals and magazines.
Winnie battled mental illness, addiction, and the effects of trauma throughout much of her life. These experiences, though hard, provided material for her work and helped form the essence of it. The often-times rawness of the subject-matter combined with her lyricism resulted in poems that could be both shocking and beautiful. Of In Harms Way, one reviewer wrote:
"She taps into the deep personal and collective trauma of our age and does so with an almost off-the-cuff feel devised by skillful and often playful handling of language and metaphor.... The imagery is dense and triggering and the metaphor is gritty and contemporary. Particularly poignant are the poems that address anguish and loss within carefully wrought and, for the most part, tightly controlled expression.... The words on the page are sticky, sugary, sexy, and full of fluid(s), with gleefully rampant enjambment." —Erin Russell, The Holland Times, September 9, 2013
Later, Winnie (now using the moniker win harms, exclusively) expanded her artistic repertoire to include performance, mixed media, soundscapes and collaborative works. She started and helmed Rough Night Press, which contributed significantly to the avant-garde art scene in Amsterdam, hosting spoken word events throughout the city. She collaborated widely and mentored young poets.
Winnie died by suicide on July 29, 2025. She burned brightly and brilliantly—just not for as long as we had hoped. She will be deeply missed by her mother, Abbe Harms; her uncles, Andrew and Tony Bunting; and her many friends and extended family, including her aunt and uncle in Colorado, Darrell and Alison (Harms) Cejka, and many "Harms" cousins, as she affectionately referred to them. She was preceded in death by her father, Greg Harms; uncle John V Harms; grandfather Frank D Bunting, husband Brian Ledoux; grandmother Judith Bunting; and grandparents John C and Barbara Harms.
For further information regarding Winnie's work:
winharms.wordpress.com or roughnightpress.wordpress.com
A Celebration of Life will be held on May 15, 2026, from 05:00 PM to 09:00 PM at Log Cabin 700 W Lippencott Lane, Haddon Heights, NJ 08035 Please contact Abbe Harms abbe.harms@icloud.com with any questions.
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