Harry J. Andrews

Harry James ("Bob") Andrews, 98 years old, of New Braintree, MA, formerly a long- time resident of Marblehead, died at Quaboag Rehabilitation Center in West Brookfield, MA on September 11. He had a long life filled with adventure and many accomplishments in business, and in the fields of aviation, skiing, sailing, big game hunting, and sport fishing. He was born to James and Bertha Andrews in Lynn, Massachusetts on February 27, 1924; graduated from Lynn English High School; at Northeastern University, he was on the Dean's List and earned a BS degree in Electrical Engineering.

During his business career, he was owner and manager in manufacturing shoes (Owens Shoe), plastics (Unex Co.), and was the New England distributor for the Mooney Aircraft Company for ten years. He was a principal at Fenwal Inc. in Framingham, where he designed and marketed temperature-sensitive undersea and aeronautical thermistors, set up national sales rep organizations in the electronics industry and lectured engineers and scientists on the molecular structure of semi-conductors. His amiable nature, positive outlook and strong drive contributed to his gift for selling.

Flying, and especially soaring, were his life passions. He bought his first airplane when he was sixteen, and over his lifetime, he owned over twenty- five aircraft including seaplanes. Bob had an airline transport license, a flight instructor certificate for instrument flying, multi -engine, single-engine land, single-engine sea and glider flying. He maintained that knowing how to glide was fundamental to achieving expertise in flying. The notations in his Glider Pilots Log Book record years of intensive training and instructing at soaring schools in New England, New York, and California. He broke a record when he soared at 12,000 feet for fourteen hours in California in August 1960. Bob was a long-time member of The Quiet Birdmen Society. He was active with Military Aviation and deeply involved with the development of the U2 Spy Plane.

Bob was an expert rifle marksman and a ballistics authority. A natural athlete, in his youth he swam five miles from Lynn Beach to Egg Rock in Nahant Bay; and throwing the discus at Northeastern, he recalled nearly hitting a professor as he was leaving a far distant campus building. He was the leading player on the Lynn English tennis ladder, and years later he played tennis with Anthony Quinn in Florida. He was a founding member of the Miles River Marsh Rats, a skeet club in Hamilton, MA. and from his many hunting trips to Canada, he supplied caribou, boar, and venison to many of their annual game dinners. Over his life time he was an avid ruffed grouse hunter. He was a past member of the New England Outdoor Writers Association.

He fished on almost all the great salmon rivers in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Quebec (Gaspe' Peninsula); for thirteen years he was a member of the Nantucket Swordfish Tournament, captured over 20 giant tuna on rod and reel (up to 1000 lbs.), plus blue and striped marlin in southern waters. Bob owned and raced many "one design (110's, 210's, USI's)" sailboats in Marblehead, and as captain and navigator raced the Bermuda, Monhegan Island, Jeffreys Ledge and the Southern Ocean circuits. He was a member of the Eastern Yacht Club. He was on the ski patrol at Tuckerman's Ravine and at Sun Valley. Bob was a Mason, Shriners member.

Bob flew for almost eighty years, but has "Gone West," leaving his wife of forty- two years, Carol (Damon) Wilber Andrews, and two stepsons, Douglas Wilber of Peaks Island, Maine and Damon Wilber of Warsaw, Poland.