Harold Lee Hashbarger

Harold Lee Hashbarger

"Lee" was born on 4 Jan., 1927, in Defiance, Ohio, the eldest son of Harold and Margaret (Brown) Hashbarger.

He was reared in Marion Twp., Henry County, Ohio, and received his education in the Hashbarger Country School for the first two years, and then in the Bishop Country School until the country schools were closed down and transferred to Hamler, Ohio. He attended the Marion Twp. High School in Hamler, Ohio, and received his high school diploma from the Northern Evening HS in Detroit.

Lee joined the United States Navy on the 2nd of March, 1944, as Lee Hashbarger, the name used since childhood. He served most of his time in WWII on the Aircraft Carrier USS Battan as electronics tech. In 1946-47 he was electronics tech. for the Antarctic Expedition "Operation Highjump." Lee also served in the Army, stationed in Berlin, Germany, as Chief Photographer and in 1956 was stationed in White Sands Proving Grounds, New Mexico, with the Signal Agency and worked with the Canadian Devence Research Northern Laboratories in Ft. Churchhill, Manitoba, with the upper atmosphere research program for the International Geophysical Years.

His first marriage was to Lucy Hower and ended in a divorce in 1953. To this union was born one child, Linda Lee Hashbarger who was raised and later adopted by Lucy's 2nd marriage.

Lee returned to Berlin for a second tour of duty with the Army, where he met and married Margit Spielmann in 1959, a native of Berlin, and daughter of Oswald Hermann Erich Spielmann and Selma Johanna Ritter. Mr. Spielmann was the Wilmersdorf Chief Criminal Inspector, retiring in 1968 to Bavaria, Germany.

While in Berlin, Lee took the 1959 First Prize in sports for the 17th annual News Pictures of the Year Competition, National Press Photographers Association-School of Journalism, University of Missouri and Encyclopedia Britannica.

Mr. Hashbarger returned to the United States and civilian life in 1960 taking employment with the Lima News as chief photographer until 1964 when he was hired as cinematographer for Auston Productions in Lima, Ohio. Lee returned to his original profession in 1968 when the United Telephone Company offered him a position in electronics in the transmission operations department.

The Hashbargers settled in Section 4 of Bath Twpt., Allen County, Ohio, in 1963, located at 915 Lutz Rd. They have two children, Daniel Eric, born 17 Feb., 1967, and Sonya Joan, born 12 Feb., 1972.

Submitted by Lee Hashberger