Harry R. Breese, 94, of Cato, NY was called Home on Saturday, May 2, 2020. He was a native of the Elmira area. Harry was a US Navy radio operator on a minesweeper during WWII in the Pacific theatre. He could be heard locally and all over the world on his ham radio using call letters W2UXY for over 50 years. After the Navy, Harry attended Polytechnical Institute of Brooklyn for Electrical Engineering. Ham radio landed him his first job at Eldico, which assembled and sold ham radio equipment, then later on as a Sales Engineer for Eimac which became Varian Associates, from which he retired in 1983.
He loved sailing and was a member of the Fair Haven Yacht Club for many years. He also loved to sing, and sang in the Lakelanders Barbershop Chorus, several barbershop quartets and Barnstormers Chorus. Those that knew Harry best, know that the other loves of his life were his family, trips to anywhere, re-engineering everything he saw or touched, and chocolate.
Harry was an active member of the Cato Union Church, later Cato Christian Fellowship and was a member of the Gideons International organization out of Auburn, NY. He served the local community on the Cato Union Hill Cemetery Board, Cato Christian Food Pantry, Civic Heritage Historical Society and Lang Memorial Library.
Harry will be greatly missed and is survived by his loving wife, Erwina (Winnie) Carr Breese. They were married for over 71 years and had 5 children: Donald Breese; David (Carlyn Patterson) Breese of Derwood, MD; Kathy (Stewart) MacDowall of Memphis, NY; Allan (Diane) Breese of Las Vegas, NV; and Bob Breese. He had 8 grandchildren: David (Karen) MacDowall, Amy Zalla; Alicia Persaud; Justin Breese; Lindsay MacDowall; Sierra Breese; Jordan Breese; Emily Breese; 5 great-grandchildren, several nieces and nephews. He also had a long term healthcare aide, Heather Ripley.
Private burial will be at Cato Union Hill Cemetary.
A memorial service will take place at a later date.
Keysor-Dain-Cullinan Funeral Service, Cato,  has care of the arrangements.
Please sign guestbook.