Harvey Garneau Sr., 86, Was Goodale Bookkeeper

Harvey W. Garneau Sr., aged 86, died peacefully in his sleep on Oct. 5. He was born on Jan. 4, 1919, in Blackstone to Alfred and Alice Garneau, and attended the Franklin High School in Franklin.

Mr. Garneau served in the Army/Air Force radar unit from Sept. 11, 1941, to Nov. 11, 1945, during which time he was posted in Africa, Sardinia, Corsica and Italy. He attained the rank of sergeant and was thoroughly experienced in all phases of radar operation and calculation. During his overseas duty, he was in charge of six crewmen and commanded a radar unit that acted as a warning post for a fighter wing.

In 1942 he was stationed as a radar operator at Peaked Hill on Martha's Vineyard. It was during this time that he met his future bride, Laura Fontes, at the USO Canteen on Upper Main street in Vineyard Haven. Harvey and Laura Garneau were married on Jan. 30, 1943, at St. Augustine's Catholic Church in Vineyard Haven by the Rev. Edmund J. Neenan.

After the war, Mr. and Mrs. Garneau lived briefly in Woonsocket, R.I., and Bellingham, where their first child, Elaine, was born in 1948. They then returned to Tisbury in 1950 where Mrs. Garneau, a trained hairdresser, opened Laura's Beauty Shop on the Beach Road. Mr. Garneau worked as an accountant in the offices of M.S. Duarte, the Martha's Vineyard Bottled Gas Company. He served as the manager of the Sears-Roebuck store when it first opened in Vineyard Haven in 1952. In March 1953, Mr. Garneau went into business for himself, opening an infant supply store on Beach Road in Vineyard Haven called Modern Baby-Land. Later on, he became the bookkeeper at Our Market. The Garneaus' second child, Harvey Jr., was born in 1954.

Mr. Garneau may be best remembered as the dispatcher and bookkeeper of Goodale Construction Company, where he worked for 18 years. Hard-working and orderly, he ran the small, dusty office like a tight ship, juggling ingoing and outgoing concrete mixers, weighing dump trucks loaded with sand and peastone, balancing ledgers and answering telephones. He was known for his quick smile, his sense of humor and his even-handed treatment of all customers.

A member of the Lions Club, Mr. Garneau enjoyed playing golf, and had a lifelong love of country and Hawaiian music. He spent long hours tending his vegetable garden on summer evenings after work, and derived great pleasure from bringing home bushels of fresh-caught scallops. He served for a time as chairman of the Oak Bluffs shellfish committee, where he earned praise from the town selectmen for his equitable resolution of sometimes thorny political conflicts.

In 1981 the Garneaus decided to move to Florida. More than 100 friends staged an elaborate surprise farewell party, complete with band, in St. Augustine's parish hall. Having sold their house on Norris avenue in Oak Bluffs, Harvey and Laura Garneau drove to West Palm Beach, Fla., where they lived for the next 24 years.

Mr. Garneau is survived by his loving wife of 62 years, Laura Fontes Garneau of West Palm Beach, Fla.; his daughter, Elaine Garneau of Boston; his son, Harvey Garneau Jr. of West Tisbury; his brother, Leo Garneau, and his wife, Esther, of Bellingham; his brother, Ernest Garneau of West Palm Beach; and his sister, Lucille Lacouture of Pascoag, R.I. Several of his siblings predeceased him: Bertha Bodmer, Alfred Garneau, Eugene Garneau, Tracy Garneau and Pete Garneau.

A small private graveside service for immediate family was held at Oak Grove Cemetery.