Three Harrys – Haslam, Heintz, and Hanger: Part 1

I’ve known three Harrys with last names beginning with H; there isn’t anything significant about this other than there are times when I think about them together. Perhaps you’ve known three Franks whose last names begin with F, or three Susans whose last names begin with S, or maybe you’ve known three dogs named Prince whose owners’ last names begin with P.

When I think about them together I think about the season of life I was in when I met each one; I was in my late 20s when I met Harry Haslam and in the residential construction industry; I was in my late 40s when I met Harry Heintz and was at theological seminary, and I was nearing my 60^th birthday when I met Harry Hanger and was in a time of challenging transition from pastoral ministry back into business.

Harry Haslam was my boss at US Home Corporation, at the time one of the largest residential home builders in the United States. I went to work for Harry as the construction coordinator of the townhouse project he was building. I scheduled contractors, ordered materials, authorized the payment of invoices, and helped supervise the job. Harry was the superintendent and he was a nice guy. In a business with lots of gruff and aggressive people Harry Haslam was a nice guy. He treated me well, his disposition was professional, he was considerate, and whether you were in management or were a laborer he gave you his respectful attention.

This particular Harry was a bit too easy going and trusting at times; I recall that when I first arrived at the job that there was a group of laborers who were lazy. They pretty much did what they wanted and I guess Harry was so busy with higher-end matters that he didn’t notice that he wasn’t getting what he was paying for. It could also be that Harry didn’t want to deal with confrontation – for he was a nice guy and laid back. This isn’t to say that Harry didn’t know what confrontation was for he had been in the midst of life and death confrontation in Vietnam...more on that in a moment. I was blessed that Harry was trusting in that he trusted me, he gave me room to do my job and to grow.

After being at the project a short time and observing the situation with the laborers I suggested to Harry that we needed to make a personnel change, and with his authorization we did, freeing the laborers up to seek employment elsewhere – no doubt they sought jobs that did not require punctuality or actual work, having grown accustomed to doing what they wanted when they wanted. Looking back on this with the perspective of decades I see that my suggestion to Harry fits the pattern of my career – identifying incongruous situations and doing something about it – a trait not always appreciated or tolerated. In business this is why I have worked better with entrepreneurs than in rigid corporate environments, in vocational ministry this is why para-church ministries are often more comfortable with me than churches.

As I mentioned Harry was in Vietnam, this was not the Vietnam of today that is open to tourists from the United States, it was war and Harry was a part of that war. I remember Harry telling me that his unit was once sent into a neighboring country (I can’t recall if it was Laos or Cambodia) on a mission and told that if they ran into trouble that they were on their own. I know these things happen, sending people into places where “we” aren’t supposed to be, I guess that’s part of running the government – you can’t tell everyone everything.

I was thinking about Vietnam the other day and about the college deferment provision in the draft. I’ve read that the average US soldier in Vietnam was 19 years old, from a poor or working-class family, who had not attended college. It is said that only about twenty percent of the soldiers were middle class men, with few upper middle class soldiers. Imagine, if you were in college you had a draft deferral, but if you lived in an urban ghetto or were dirt poor living in a hollow in the Blue Ridge Mountains then you’d better get your living done as soon as possible because you just didn’t know when the notice would come in the mail telling you that your uncle required your presence.

But back to Harry Haslam; he was a really nice guy.