Harry Harrington

On April 22, 2023 Philip Bailey Harrington died at his home in Santa Monica surrounded by family and friends, and under the care of hospice after surviving five years with therapies for cancer.

Harry’s Quaker faith expressed itself through many years of consistent worship with Friends at the Meeting House, then on the Zoom platform during the pandemic. He requested membership shortly before his death, expressing the clarity of his wish: “After attending Meeting for 40 years, I want to become a member.” Harry’s membership clearness committee, met with him at his bedside. From there, he watched his membership finalized at Meeting for Business on April 9, 2022.

Phil, also later known by the nickname “Harry”, was born November 22, 1932, the second son in the marriage of Raymond Harrington and Beatrice Katherine (Bailey) Harrington of Lexington, MA. With grandparents nearby, Phil and his four siblings grew up in a stable, loving family.

When his father moved his family to a farm in Billerica to experiment with raising chickens and the marketing of eggs, Phil and his brother enjoyed life on the farm and attending the local school.

At age 18, and having completed high school in Lexington, Phil joined the US Navy at the start of the Korean War. He served in the engine room of a destroyer as the Fleet crossed the Pacific and went around the globe asserting US naval power. At the end of his enlistment, with benefit of training under the GI Bill at East Coast Aero Tech in Bedford, MA, he shifted from machines of boats to airplanes. With work at Idlewild Airport (now JFK) he began a long career as a mechanic, starting with work on propeller planes and radio communication and moving on to jets and radar.

American Airlines provided a new opportunity and Phil headed West in 1959. The company was expanding rapidly and provided many opportunities for advancement. As he once modestly described it, his job was to work on the gadgets that let the plane know how it was connected to the earth. He could have added that as a supervisor he had to guarantee to the captain of the plane that the ground crew had done a perfect job and was safe to fly.

He found a home in Santa Monica and a tennis club. He worked the night shift at LAX so he could play tennis in the daytime. Following international tennis, he used his AmAir free flights benefit to see matches in Forrest Hills, NY, Wimbledon, UK and Melbourne, Australia, etc. Vision problems and the need for bifocals led him to switch to the Santa Monica Track Club for training, and he qualified for the marathons he ran successfully in LA, Boston, NYC, Rome and Guadalajara, Mexico.

Upon retirement Harry found the Emeritus College where he improved his Spanish and piano playing. Literature courses led him to James Joyce’s “Ulysses” and trips to Dublin, Ireland. Studying “Moby Dick” by Herman Melville increased his interest in whaling ships and the history of many sailing voyages found in books and museums.

In 2001 Harry began his journey as a pilgrim on the ancient trail known as Camino Santiago (the Way of Saint James) that crosses northern Spain to the Cathedral of Santiago where the relics of the apostle James are honored. He walked through Pyrenees Mountains to Pamplona, making a good start on the 450 mile trail, then returned to Madrid, where he joined an Elderhostel tour of Northeast Spain. There he met Sue Thomas from Connecticut who welcomed hearing of his adventures on the trail. Harry completed the walk to the Cathedral in October, 2002. Then in April 2003 he escorted Sue on a comfortable hike on the trail supported by Elderhostel buses and hotels. Other Elderhostel trips with Sue included Mexico, South Africa, Ecuador, Italy, and Turkey.

Concerned for the treatment of animals Harry was a strict adherent to a vegetarian diet. He was concerned for the plight of all workers and supported the Air Transport Workers Union for all the workers at the airport. Going with Sue and the Connecticut delegation to the Annual Meeting of the Friends Committee on National Legislation 2011 in D.C., he joined in lobbying for the Iranian Nuclear Deal. He had found an organization whose goal matched his desire for peace with justice, and a systemic change in national policy about war.

At the Santa Monica Pier Harry found that every Sunday the Veterans for Peace were constructing an exhibit of the losses in the war in Iraq (2003-2011) by placing crosses in the sand for each American killed, and a pile of shoes representing each Iraqi life lost. He joined in their protest of the war.

As a good host, Harry attended Santa Monica Friends Meeting whenever his traveling companion Sue visited. He soon chose to become a regular attender there and, when visiting her, he participated in the Storrs, CT Meeting and all its activities. Storrs Friends remember his quiet ways and his willingness to work wherever needed on the Meeting House grounds, in the kitchen or visiting the homebound.

Themes running thru his long life are compassion, and simplicity in his lifestyle. He often showed a sly sense of humor about himself and the foibles of humanity.

Predeceased by sister Janet and brother Ken, Phil is survived by his brother David Harrington of Wayland, MA, his sister Anne Rabeuf of Canaan, CT and sister-in-law Cindy Harrington of Burlington, MA, and their children and grandchildren, his many nieces and nephews. In addition he leaves his companion, Sue Thomas of Storrs, CT and his supportive neighbor Troy Mills