Allen Cressey Harmes
Clark, SD
1933, 790, Hazelrodt, F-11,
1934, 2748, Tom Berry, DSE-212,
1935, 2748, Tigerville, F-15, Ass't Leader
1936, 2761, Horse Creek, F-2, Ass't Leader
Allen Cressey Harmes, 79, Los Fresnos, Texas, formerly of Mitchell, died Monday, March 18, 1991, at Methodist Hospital. Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. on Friday at the Will Funeral Chapel. Burial will be in Graceland Cemetery. Visitation will be on Thursday from 7p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Will Funeral Chapel with Masonic rites which are open to the public, at 7:30 p.m.
He was born on April 12, 1911, at Carpenter, S.D., to Andrew and Nellie (Cressey) Harmes. He married Mary (Adeline) Woods on Sept. 11, 1933, at Clark, S.D. He designed, built and operated the first cable TV system in the Midwest and the first underground cable TV system in the nation, called Palace TV. He was president of Dakota Electric Company and was a certified heating and refrigeration engineer. He operated the first federally approved electrician's apprenticeship program in South Dakota and wrote the draft for the electrical licensing and inspection ordinance for the City of Mitchell. He was past owner/operated of Harmes Electric Company of Clark, S.D. and served as a past supervisor of electrical, heating and refrigeration for the Corps of Army Engineers at Igloo, S.D. He was the first president of the South Dakota Cable Television Association and past director of the South Dakota Midwest Electrical Association, and past district chairman for the National Federation of the Independent Businesses. In the 1930s he served in the CCC. He organized the Mr. Mason of Mitchell program and was active in many Masonic bodies including the Mitchell Resurgam Lodge No. 31. Scottish Rite Temple, York Rite Masons of Mitchell, El Riad Shrine of Sioux Falls and was a 32nd Degree Mason of the Scottish Rite.
He is survived by two sons: William A, Arlington, Va., and Steven, Mitchell; one daughter. Mrs. Jack (Andrea) Sindt, Mitchell; six grandchildren; two great-grandchildren, one brother: Burton, Scottsdale, Ariz.; two sisters: Edna Larson, Custer, S.D. and Harlingen, Texas; and Dorothy Vantine, Boyce, Va.
He was preceded in death by his parents, his wife, one sister and one brother.
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