Page 6 - April 2013 Gears & Ears

Member Profile

Harry Boardman

Joined Rotary: June 1, 1974 sponsored by Ed Northcutt.

Education: Born on June 26, 1932 in Pitsburgh Pennsylvania. Moved to West
Palm Beach, Florida in 1948 and graduated from high school in 1950.
Attended Palm Beach Junior College and graduated with an AA degree in
1952. Transferred to University of Florida and graduated in 1957 with a BS
degree in Electrical Engineering.

Military service: After three semesters at UF, I was drafted into the Army in
1954. After basic training, I was stationed in Mannheim, Germany for the
balance of my tour. In 1956, I returned to UF and completed the requirements
for my degree.

Hobbies: Travel, vegetable gardening. and work with my computer and camera.
Marital status: In 1958, I met Mary Ann Daley in San Francisco. She was a United Airlines Stewardess.
Her roommates nicknamed her Dale and she has been Dale to me for the last 52 years. We were married
on April 29, 1961 and six months later we moved to Honolulu and on April 20, 1962 our first daughter
Kristin was born. Next, Trish was born on September 10, 1963. In 1965, I was transferred back to San
Francisco and Malia was born on March 1, 1965.
Children/ grandchildren: Blessed with three daughters and ten grandchildren.

First job:Graduated from University of Florida in 1957 with a BS degree in Electrical Engineering. Worked
for Westinghouse in sales from 1957 to 1962 in San Francisco. Worked for Federal Pacific Electric from
1962 until 1974 in sales in San Francisco, Hawaii and Newark, NJ. Moved to Orlando in 1974 and worked
for Consolidated Electrical Distributors. In 1976, I left CED and started Osceola Supply in Kissimmee
selling electrical supplies for the construction market. Sold Osceola Supply in 1980 to Rexel and continued
to work for them until I retired in 2012.

Most fun job: When I worked for Rexel, I wrote a computer program in Visual Basic that would load data
into our main frame. The company would send me data in Excel and I would format it and load it into the
main frame. This would save the company many hours of labor entering the data manually.

Why did you join Rotary? I don’t remember why I joined but I do remember why I stayed active for the last
38 years. Rotary offers me the opportunity to help other people who are less fortunate.I started a
scholarship fund to offer scholarships to local high school students. The fund is now at about $13,000 and
we have granted a $2000 scholarship for the last three years. My goal is to build this fund to the point
where the interest will provide a $2000 scholarship each year from the interest earned.

Are you a Paul Harris Fellow? A Paul Harris Fellow plus four, and Dale is also a Paul Harris Fellow.

What club positions have you held in Rotary: Club president 1979/1980. Club treasurer ever since 1980
except for three years when I served as assistant treasurer. I have served on the board every year since
1979.

Current employer/ position: Retired

Travel interests: My Son in Law and I have a summer home in Novia Scotia which I visit every year.