Obituary for Bernhard C. Harvey, Jr.

Bernhard C. (“Bernie”) Harvey, Jr. passed away peacefully at home in Scottsdale, Ariz. on May 22, 2015. He was 91.
He is survived by his daughters, Jeannine Smith, Denise Burbeck (husband Jim), Priscilla Beck (husband Patrick); dear friend and companion, Clovis Williamson; six grandchildren; a loving extended family and countless friends.
He was the youngest of three children born to Bernhard C. (“Barney”) and Josephine Harvey in Rockford, Ill.
He entered the University of Arizona in 1942 but interrupted his education by volunteering for the U.S. Army in 1943 and was honorably discharged in 1946.
He married the love of his life, Louise Szakalun, in 1948, and they devoted their lives to each other until her death in 1995. Following his military service he returned to the U of A during the school year while working at Woodward Governor in Rockford during the summers. The lessons he learned and the friends he made at Woodward Governor were the foundation of a lifelong connection with Rockford along with his Swedish heritage and family there. He received his bachelor’s of science degree in mechanical engineering in 1949 and in 1952 he was hired by Garrett AiResearch in Los Angeles; then was transferred to Phoenix in 1955 making Arizona his permanent home. He retired in 1980 but promptly returned to work as a sub-contract engineering consultant for several more years. He participated in many historically significant engineering projects during his career from NASA’s Gemini manned-spacecraft program in the 1960s to Honeywell’s MK-50 torpedo project for the U.S. Navy in the 1980s. In later years he volunteered at the Air and Space Museum in San Diego where he helped to build a replica of the experimental Bell X-1 in which his hero Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in 1947.
His love of the west extended from the Arizona mountains where he built a family cabin with his own hands, to the ranches of Tucson and Williams where he volunteered at the Al-Marah Arabian Horse Farm owned by his friend and fellow Illinois native Ruth “Bazy” Tankersley. A life-long animal lover, he owned many dogs during his lifetime and even two Arabian horses acquired from an Al-Marah fundraising auction for Therapeutic Riding of Tucson (TROT); a 2 for 1 bargain since the mare he purchased was pregnant! He was generous with both his time and considerable engineering talents, working tirelessly to design, build or repair just about anything for his friends and family and expecting nothing in return.
Services will be held at 2 p.m., Saturday, June 20 at First Southern Baptist Church of Scottsdale, 5230 N. Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale, Ariz. Memorial donations may be made to Therapeutic Riding of Tucson www.trotarizona.org.