USAFA Class Histories

Wyman C. Harris 306 Bella Vista Belvedere, CA 94920 Wyman Clinton Harris grew up on a farm in Oklahoma five miles from the nearest paved road. The Adventures of Huck Finn best describe his summers as a barefoot lad shooting snakes and squirrels, catching perch and catfish in White Oak Creek or swimming in the buff. The daily chores of farm life instilled discipline while the seasonal tasks demonstrated the warm embrace and harsh cruelty of Mother Nature. His formal education began in a one-room school and ended at Harvard Business School. Predictably, life changed dramatically when Wy left Little House on the Prairie for the Air Force Academy. After attaining a Masters Degree in Industrial Engineering at Purdue, he was able to condense a career into five years at Ramstein Air Base, Germany and at Air Force Headquarters in the Pentagon. Thus groomed, the barefoot lad advanced quickly at General Foods from plant production to marketing to general management. Along the way he produced some memorable Bill Cosby TV commercials for Jell-O Pudding, headed Birds Eye operations and started and ran a new division by acquiring some privately owned food companies. With the necessary ingredients in place, Wyman heeded his entrepreneurial spirit and joined another food industry executive to build a new food company from scratch via acquisition. The successful result, Wyndham Foods, is a classic case study in industry consolidation. Then, he did it again in another industry--his company, Harris & Hoimes, Inc., bought some school furniture manufacturing companies and became the largest supplier of furniture to schools. Wyman is a graduate of Purdue University (MSIE) and Harvard Business School (PMD). A member of the San Francisco Yacht Club, he has sailed across the Atlantic and in Thailand, Turkey, Tonga, Greece, Croatia, and the Caribbean. He is on the board of governors of the Cruising Club of America (CCA). He and Gay, his wife of 50 years, live in Belvedere, California and spend much of their time cruising in Mexico, British Columbia or Alaska aboard their Offshore 54 motor yacht, Safari. They are recipients of the Cruiser of the Year Trophy from both the SFYC and CCA. Two daughters, four grandsons.