Guest Speaker-Tom Harding

Tom Harding was born in “the anthracite coal country” of Scranton, Pennsylvania, the son of a coal miner. At the onset of WWII, his family went through what everyone else did – rationing and reusing anything that could be to support the war effort.  His uncle served in the Army Air Corps and sent him scale-model airplanes and a deck of cards with pictures of airplanes through which he learned to love airplanes!

Tom attended the University of Scranton – which was eight blocks from home. After two years of engineering, he switched from Physics to a major in Electronics.  After college, he worked at Link, a company that built flight simulators and trainers, and then at IBM, which built avionics systems. While at these companies he worked in aviation programs including the C-141 Starlifter, P-3 Ori- on, and F-4 Phantom II.  He was involved in the early space systems programs including the Gemini two-man program and Apollo three-man program. Meeting and having a great one-on-one discussion with Neil Armstrong was a real high- light of that experience.

He was later recruited into the Information Technology world. Where he spent most of his career. However, he managed to stay connected to the world of aviation by selling computer systems to Link! After several senior management positions, he was promoted to Corporate Vice President, Division General Manager at a Fortune 500 company, and eventually started his own consulting business. After 35 years of operating his own business, he retired here in Sun City Center. He is a member of the Silver Osprey Squadron # 64, Association of Naval Aviators, and will speak about the life and career of last month’s speaker, RADM Larry Chambers.

Bon Appetit

Garden Salad Bar with Dressing Assortment, Rolls & Butter

Entrees:

• Chicken Marsala

• Baked Cod with Lemon Butter Sauce

• Stuffed Shells Marinara, Vegetarian Starch & Vegetable du Jour

Desserts: Chef’s selected desserts Beverages: Decaf Coffee, Iced Tea, and Ice Water