HANDY, HARRY B. -- A railway section foreman for a decade and a half who has carefully studied present-day devices in the constructing of railroads, is Harry B. Handy, popular with all who know him, on account of his modest, unassuming personality. He was born at Nevada, Story County, Iowa, on September 1, 1879, the son of Owen Handy, who came to that county from Illinois and who had married Miss Mary A. Parker, who came from Buffalo, N.Y., a sketch of their lives appearing elsewhere in this volume. They had four children, and Harry was the eldest son.
Harry Handy went to school at Villa Park, in what was then in the Mountain View school district, and grew up with ranch surroundings. His father was superintendent of some eighty acres of vineyard, owned by I. W. Hellman and Morris L. Goodman, of the Farmers and Merchants Bank, and in this way our subject has come to be identified with the later agricultural interests of this locality.
November 17, 1897, witnessed the marriage of Harry Handy and Miss Mary Aline Horton of Orange and formerly of Iowa, and from this fortunate union have come two children--Orval B., born in June 19, 1898, and Robert Le Roy, born November 14, 1899. These sons are at present on the United States Revenue cutter Unalga, and on the Alaska coast; the eldest was in the United States service two years and the youngest has served one year.
H. B. Handy has been in the employment of the Southern Pacific Railroad for the past fifteen years as section foreman on the Los Angeles division, Tustin branch; and for six years he was zanjero and foreman on the ditch of the Santa Ana Valley Irrigation Company. He belongs to the Central Lemon Growers Association and to the Villa Park Orchards Association. The family live on a ranch at Center Drive and Villa Park Road where the tractor, representing the modern way of doing things, is used throughout for farm work. Mr. Handy finds part of his social recreation in the circles of the Odd Fellows at Orange, honored there as one of the past grands. He also works under the national banner of the Republican party for better citizenship, and has been active as a supporter of the movements for the local schools and the community church.
