Another of Vulcan’s long time employees has passed away:
Curtis Harmon, age 83, of Wellington, FL, passed away on February 26, 2020. Curtis was born in Chattanooga, TN on May 22, 1936. Curtis is survived by his wife of 40 years, Cynthia C. Harmon; his children, Mel Harmon, Terri (Sam) Alavi and Robert (Julie) North. He will also be lovingly remembered by his granddaughter, Samantha North as well as many other relatives and friends who will miss him dearly. Private cremation services are under the care of Tillman Funeral Home & Crematory, West Palm Beach, FL.
He was a graduate of the University of Chattanooga in Engineering Physics; the program was the ancestor of what is now the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s College of Engineering and Computer Science, where I currently teach and hold two degrees from. He came to work for Vulcan shortly after it moved to Chattanooga and then moved to West Palm Beach to manage the new fabricating facility. It got off to an interesting start, but Curtis was involved in both the design and manufacture of Vulcan products such as the Supertherm, the Construction Assistance Vehicle, Light Trailer, Linear Vibrator, Internal Pile Hammer, LPG Hammer, Single-Compound Hammer and both the onshore and offshore leaders.
Photo at top: A set of offshore leaders in the yard, on top of the fabricating bed where they were usually made. In front of the leaders (left to right) are E. Curtis Harmon, plant manager; H.G. Warrington, President and Chairman of the Board, and R.J. North, a sales manager. Behind the leaders is the UPS facility. The leaders were spray painted, which made the “Special Products Division” (the plant’s designation) unpopular with UPS employees when their cars had the misfortune of being downwind during painting.
Curtis was one of Vulcan’s better engineers and designers. As an interesting footnote, when the Special Products Division plant was sold in 1984 to the wire rope and sling provider Adler, Curtis went to work for them, going with the property!
Memory eternal, and my condolences to his family.
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