WWII soldier served veterans, worked for fair hiring practices

HAROLD THOMAS BUSHEY SR. | May 29, 1920 - July 13, 2018

After serving during war, many veterans find themselves eager to return to civilian life and move on from their experiences as quickly as possible.

But not Harold Thomas Bushey Sr.

After he returned from World War II, he built a life around helping other veterans and continuing his service.

Mr. Bushey, the longtime director of the Veterans Affairs Regional Office in Pittsburgh, died Friday, surrounded by his family in hospice care. He was 98 and had lived in Mt. Lebanon.

“My father was such a positive man, he was making plans up till the end,” said his daughter, Kathleen Prentiss of Mt. Lebanon.

Born in the Harlem area of New York City, Mr. Bushey moved as a child with his family to the north shore of Long Island, where his father found work as a butcher. After graduating from high school, he went to work at a movie theater before being drafted into the Army in 1941.

As a young sergeant major, Mr. Bushey was stationed aboard the ships Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth as they transported thousands of troops to Europe for the war effort.

After the war, he contemplated whether to return as manager of the theater, where his job was waiting.

“He was the youngest manager of the theater and when he was drafted, they sent him money and saved his job,” Mrs. Prentiss said. “They hoped he would come back after the war.”

The decision was complicated by his new role as husband and father.

During leave in 1942, Mr. Bushey met Marylynn Basuino, and they married in May 1943. The couple had been married for 57 years in 2000, when Mrs. Bushey died.

“He went to a USO dance and when he walked into the club, one of my mother’s sisters whistled at him,” Mrs. Prentiss said. “That’s how they met.”

Acting on the advice of a fellow soldier, Mr. Bushey applied for a federal job and was accepted by the VA office in Pittsburgh.

“He got the job in Pittsburgh and my mom cried like crazy,” when they decided to move, Mrs. Prentiss said.

The Busheys bought a home in Dormont, where they raised four children, before moving to Mt. Lebanon in 1965.

In the meantime, Mr. Bushey enlisted in the Army Reserve and took advantage of the GI Bill to go to night school and earn a bachelor’s degree at the University of Pittsburgh, followed by a master’s degree in business administration. He also taught as an adjunct professor at Pitt’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs.

Mr. Bushey served in the reserves until 1981 and twice was awarded the Legion of Merit for meritorious conduct — first during WWII and again after his retirement from the reserves.

At the VA, he was personnel manager before being promoted to director in 1971, a post he held until his retirement in 1997.

In that role, Mr. Bushey was recognized with many awards — his daughter said they filled two rooms in his home— but his proudest moments were probably off the radar, said friend and colleague Jerry Serrino of North Strabane.

“I was a personnel trainee at the VA Medical Center when we met,” said Mr. Serrino, who knew Mr. Bushey for 47 years, working with him for 28 of those years. “I wrote a paper on affirmative action and he was a pioneer in that effort within the federal government. He was doing it before there was a hard push to do it.”

During the administration of President John F. Kennedy, Mr. Bushey was sent to states in the South to help them implement Mr. Kennedy’s 1961 executive order requiring government contractors to hire people “without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin.”

“My father was sent to make sure [minorities] were being treated fairly,” Mrs. Prentiss said. “And he was warned of the danger.”

Mr. Bushey also worked locally to ensure fair hiring practices within his own office, sometimes bending the rules to hire qualified African-Americans.

“When we would have a vacancy he was always looking to see if we could get a minority,” Mr. Serrino said. “Even when there weren’t vacancies, he would circumvent the system to fit them into jobs. Because he did these things, he developed a reputation in the community, and people saw that it wasn’t just lip service.”

He also worked with leaders in the local black community to help applicants navigate the often cumbersome application process for a federal job, and he kept an off-the-books list of how many minorities were hired by various departments in his office.

“It really concerned him, that everybody should have equal opportunity,” Mr. Serrino said. “He was one of the best people I’ve ever known.”

His secret to a long and happy life was simple, Mrs. Prentiss said.

“Martinis and positive thinking,” she said.

In addition to his daughter, Mr. Bushey is survived by a son, Tom Bushey of Imperial; eight grandchildren; 11 great-grandchildren; and a great-great-grandchild.

He was preceded in death by his wife; a daughter, Claudia Bushey King; and a son, Michael Damian Bushey.

Visitation is from 2 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Beinhauer Funeral Home, 2630 W. Liberty Ave., Dormont. A Mass will be celebrated at 10:30 a.m. Thursday at St. Winifred Church, 550 Sleepy Hollow Road, Mt. Lebanon. Interment with full military honors will immediately follow at Queen of Heaven Cemetery in Peters.

The family suggests donations be made to the USO at uso.org/donate.