Obituary of Harvey W. Wainright

Harvey W. Wainright of Clinton, NY, died on November 17, 2010, at the age of 88. He is survived by his wife of 57 years, Jean, his four children, their spouses, and a grandchild. Harvey's own words follow: "Harvey was born in Galesburg, Illinois, to Marie Holmes Wainright and Lloyd W. Wainright on the cold night of December 28, 1921. Fortunately the Model T started for the trip to the hospital. He was predeceased by his sister Gerda Markham and by his brother Joseph Wainright. In Syracuse, NY, on October 3, 1953, he married Jean C. Davis of Syracuse and Palmer, MA. The couple moved to Clinton, NY, on their wedding day and stayed. They have four children and respective spouses--Jesse and Tina of Willoughby Hills, OH; Lincoln and Barbara of Rochester, NY; Amy and Michael Chicchelly of Kirtland, OH; and Matthew of Clinton, NY. Jesse and Tina are the parents of their grandchild Kayla. Harvey's education was interrupted by World War II. He attended four different colleges before and after the war. They were the Univ. of Illinois, Clarkson, Iowa State University, and Syracuse University, receiving degrees from the latter two, and membership in the two honor societies of Eta Kappa Nu and Phi Kappa Phi. During WWII he served in the Air Force, ASTP, Signal Corp, and OSS. His mother worried that he couldn't hold a job. The military tour took him around the world, serving in India and China. Incidental to his work for OSS was getting equipment from Calcutta to Kunming, China. This was the pleasant part of his military work as the Japanese had just been pushed into lower Burma and the roads were open. The Irrawaddy river valley and the Burmese Himalayas are interesting and pretty to see. Driving a semitrailer truck on very narrow mountain roads and across bridges built for ox carts was very distracting, but with an average speed of 4 to 6 mph, and almost every other day spent on putting the trucks back together there was time to see the scenery. Calling this area the "Hump" was very appropriate. The majority of his working career was spent with General Electric in Syracuse and Utica. He was an electronic system designer of airborne equipment. The span of his designs ranged from equipment for piston-engine aircraft to turboprops to jets to the supersonic bomber. He lived long enough to see his earliest design on display at the U.S. Airforce Museum in Dayton, OH. Upon his retirement from GE, he and Jean raised agricultural crops for eleven years. This outdoor work was compensation for the many years of office work. During the years in Clinton he was a member of the Clinton United Methodist Church. In the church he held many of the administrative posts and aided in building the church on Utica Road. Now, also, his woodworking tools are silent." A memorial service will be held at the Clinton United Methodist Church on Utica Road on Sunday, November 21, at 2:00 p.m. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the church memorial fund.