Harris F. Penniman, Sr., formerly of Whitman, Ipswich, and Brant Rock and also of Harpswell Maine, passed away peacefully on April 30 in Amarillo, Texas, where he was being cared for by his son Jim, wife Pam and family.
Harris was born in 1928 and grew up in Whitman, son of F. Gardner and Doris Penniman.
He graduated Whitman High School in 1946, having been elected president of the Student Council and most popular boy – a title that kept him closely in touch with classmates for many years. After graduation he served in the United States Army in Korea as part of Company K of the 20th Infantry Regiment.
Following his honorable discharge from the service he attended Worcester Junior College and graduated cum laude, ultimately attaining his BSME degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, again with high honors.
Virtually Harris’ entire career as a mechanical engineer was spent at General Electric Co.’s Lynn facility, as developer and project engineer of their famous turbine engine test facility for which he received several awards. His engineering skills were very much appreciated by the Brant Rock community in 1976 when he succeeded in getting the four clocks in the tower of Brant Rock Union Chapel to work properly for the first time in decades, a challenge he enjoyed.
He and his late wife Gloria lived for years in Ipswich, MA where they brought up their three children to adulthood. In Ipswich Harris served on the Building Committee for the construction of the new Masonic Temple. He also served on the Taxpayers Association. One of his great pleasures was maintaining his 24-foot Grady White Double engine Center console boat and taking it out on the water, both in Ipswich and Brant Rock, where he owned two cottages.
Because of his longevity at General Electric, he was able to retire at 55 years old and moved with Gloria to a new home they had built on Orr’s Island in Harpswell, Maine, where they lived next to their daughter Brenda and husband Alan’s family for a while.
Harris had a great interest in his family history. In researching it, he discovered the existence of an amazing hand-written genealogy dating back to 1630, when James Penniman arrived on the ship Lion from England. The records had been created and kept up through the years by Rev. G. W. Penniman, with additions by Paul Bigelow of the Braintree Historical Society. After Harris had digitalized the records, he gathered the Pennimans from all over the country for a grand reunion at the Capt. Edward Penniman estate in Eastham, MA. Ultimately George Dobbin Penniman and his family enabled the records to be published in two hard cover book editions, “The Penniman Family 1631 to 1900” and “The Penniman Family to 1980 – Book II”.
His later years were spent living in Marshfield, MA where he enjoyed playing cards at the Senior Center, and lastly in Amarillo, Texas, where he shared family life with the James Penniman family.
His beloved wife Gloria pre-deceased him in 2005 and he will now be buried beside her at Fern Hill Cemetery in Hanson. They leave son Harris, Jr. and Judith of Bourne,children Bronwen and Michael, son James and his wife Pam of Amarillo, Texas, and children Rachel, Joshua and Nikki; daughter Brenda and husband Alan Buonaiuto of Brunswick Maine, and children Angelina, Jamie, Jessica, Rose, and Kimberly. He leaves several great grandchildren, as well as a sister Faith Jean of Marshfield, MA and many nieces and nephews. He loved them all.
A memorial service will be held at Brant Rock Union Chapel on June 2 at 1:00. Friends are welcome to come and share remembrances with Harris’ family.