Obituary of Harvey Frank Pings, Jr.

 

 

                 Harvey Frank Pings, Jr. was born in Butte, Montana, son of Harvey F. Pings, Sr., and Jennie Pings on October 20, 1921. They moved to Colorado where he spent his childhood. He attended the Colorado School of Mines. He graduated with an engineering degree and began his professional life with the Aluminum Company of America (ALCOA). His first assignment was at their East St. Louis, Illinois Works as a chemical engineer. It was there that he met his first wife Celestine Gither, who was working in the Works Laboratory.  

                Meanwhile, Harvey’s line of work was changed to labor relations, and after several intervening assignments, he was named Manager of Labor Relations, the title he bore when he left East St. Louis. He attended St. Louis University night school for 4 years, graduated with a law degree and passed the state bar exams for Illinois and Missouri.

                ALCOA then offered Harvey the position of Manager of Labor Relations at the Mobile, Alabama Works. Harvey accepted, and he and Celestine, with the addition of two daughters, moved to Mobile, where they welcomed their third daughter. He was invited to join the Headquarters at Pittsburgh, Pa. After a breaking-in period he became Manager of Labor Arbitration. Later he became Manager of Industrial Relations, a position he held for a number of years, after which he was able to accept early retirement.  After the children were raised and educated, they moved to their retirement home in North Carolina. Subsequently they were divorced by mutual  agreement

                Sometime thereafter Harvey met Mary Drost and they were married and moved to Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina where they lived for 15 years enjoying many club activities as well as bridge, boating and worldwide cruises.

                 With advancing years, he and Mary made the decision to move to Freedom Plaza in Sun City Center, FL, a move which proved to be a wise one. Harvey immediately joined the Men’s Golf Association for which he directed their weekly tournament for many years.  In addition he served as RAC floor representative and on numerous RAC committees. He played a role in nearly every one of the Freedom Frolics since arrived at Freedom Plaza. He sang with the Freedom Singers chorus for several years, was a member of the Woodworkers Club and served on the Board of Directors of the Freedom Plaza Scholarship Fund. He joined the Plaza Players when that organization was founded and played a role in almost every one of their productions until physical infirmities lessened his activities in his last several years of his 20+ year residence in Freedom Plaza.

                Harvey had a sharp mind and a wonderful sense of humor and he enjoyed wide-ranging conversations with his many friends and acquaintances.  

              He passed away on March 18, 2023 and is survived by his three daughters, Nancy Bajus, Jennie Hoffman and Melissa Shaw, 6 grandchildren, and 4 great grandchildren and also his second family: step-son David Drost, step-daughters Kate Bordagary and Nancy Drost and 2 step-grandchildren and 3 step-great grandchildren.

                                    “That man is a success who has lived well, laughed often and loved much…..”

                                                                                                                                                 -Robert Louis Stevenson

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