Harold Hosking, a resident of Ocean Beach for more than 50 years, passed away on Saturday, May 17, 2008.
He was 83.
Harold grew up in England, served in the Royal Air Force during World War II and emigrated to Canada, where he met his wife and had his two children. The family arrived in Ocean Beach in 1957 when Harold began work for Ryan Aeronautical and UCSD.
Harold was born in St. Buryan, Cornwall, England on November 11, 1924. As a boy on his family farm he dreamed of coming to America and loved everything about America, avidly reading all the Saturday Evening Post and Life magazines he could get in the nearby town of Penzance.
During World War II he joined the Royal Air Force in England at 18, and he worked as a mechanic in air force stations from Lynham, Wiltshire, to Lucas and St. Andrews, Scotland.
Some of his greatest memories were from being in the Royal Air Force and meeting Americans. He first had pumpkin pie on an American base in 1944.
Harold Hosking was always interested in mechanics, and in 1947 he was discharged from the Royal Air Force to emigrate to Toronto. In Canada, he worked on a construction site building a large dam north of Lake Superior.
He later worked for A.V. Roe building NATO fighter planes. It was at this time he met and married his wife, Grace Keenor, who had also emigrated from England after World War II. They were married in 1950 and had two children, Lorne and Pat.
In 1957, representatives from Ryan Aeronautical recruited mechanics from A.V. Roe to work in San Diego on fighter planes. Harold was delighted to start a new life in America, and on June 26 he drove his family to San Diego. In two weeks he had bought his house in Ocean Beach, where he lived until his death.
He also worked for the University of California for 18 years and was a founding member of the UCSD Retirement Association.
In 1961, Harold took citizenship classes and became an American citizen, something that brought him great pride. Harold and Grace were avid travelers who took many cruises, visiting family and friends around the world.
Harold attended the Point Loma Methodist Church, the Mission Hills Methodist Church and was active in the Canadian Legion, the Canadian Air Force Association, the British Club in Balboa Park, the Trafalgar Club and the Cornish Cousins Association.
He loved Ocean Beach and its residents.
Harold is survived by his wife, Grace; children Lorne and Pat Crowder; four grandchildren, Jeff, Paul, Robbie and Juliet Crowder; great-granddaughter, Kate Crowder; and a brother, Jim Hosking, of Penzance, England.
Harold’s service will be on Saturday, May 24, at 10:30 a.m. at the Point Loma Methodist Church at 1984 Sunset Cliffs Blvd.
The family requests donations, in lieu of flowers, be made to the Shiley Eye Center at 9415 Campus Point Drive, La Jolla, 92093, or by visiting http://eyesite.ucsd.edu/giv-ing/4sight4children.htm.