Harry Boyd Baird's Obituary
Harry Boyd Baird passed away May 8, 2026 in Germantown, Tennessee. Harry was born in September of 1925 in Dyer, Tennessee to Jamie Amos Baird and Mary Boyd Baird. He graduated Dyer High School in 1943 and enlisted in the US Army Air Forces to serve in World War II, as his father had served in the US Army Air Service in World War I.
Harry trained in gunnery school for B-24’s in Laredo, Texas and Lincoln, Nebraska. Due to injuries during training, he remained stateside at the Pratt Army Air Field at Pratt, Kansas. With his teenage years of running the theater in Dyer he was given the responsibility of running the base theater showing entertainment movies along with newsreels and training films. Harry was discharged from service in 1946.
Upon discharge from the Army Air Forces Harry attended University of Tennessee where he met his future wife, Mary Sue Newton. He obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration Transportation in 1950. His first job out of college was working at a truck line in Roanoke, Virginia. He would visit Sue and her family in Oak Ridge, Tennessee on the weekends, with Sue arranging for passes through the town’s strict government security. He later got a job in Oak Ridge with Union Carbide handling transportation shipping in the K-25 uranium gaseous diffusion building of the Oak Ridge Facility.
In 1951 Harry and Sue married in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. In 1953 they moved to Nashville with Harry being traffic manager at Temco, Inc., manufacturer of gas heating appliances, and Sue working for Grey & Dudley Stove Company. In 1957 they moved to Tupelo, Mississippi where he became the traffic manager with the Futorian Furniture Company, responsible for multi-plant traffic functions and establishing a distribution system and truck fleet. Their two children, Lynne and Craig, were born in Tupelo.
In 1961 the family moved to Pascagoula, Mississippi where Harry was traffic manager for Litton Ship Systems and Ingalls Shipbuilding Division. He was responsible for rail, truck, and barge shipments of materials, cost studies for procurements.
In 1973 Harry joined the Mississippi Research and Development Center in Jackson, Mississippi as the Center’s transportation specialist. He worked with others at the Center to attract industries to the State and would advise in areas related to transportation by rail, barge, and trucking. He was involved with establishing Mississippi’s first Foreign-Trade Zones on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and in the Vicksburg/Jackson areas.
Throughout his career Harry was involved with and had leadership positions in many transportation organizations, including Nashville Traffic and Transportation Club, Mississippi Gulf Coast Traffic Club, Southeast Shippers Advisory Board, the Central Mississippi Traffic and Transportation Club, the Mississippi Trucking Association, and the Interstate Commerce Commission Practitioners Association. In 1973 he was admitted to practice before the Interstate Commerce Commission. In later years while driving around with dad it was not uncommon for him to point out a truck and remark “…I helped so and so when he started that truck line” or “…I remember when so and so only had a couple of trucks in their fleet”.
After retiring Harry and Sue enjoyed traveling, with Banff, Canada as a favorite destination. Other destinations included travel to Europe with countries of the Scandinavia region being favorites, and travels to Turkey and Spain with their daughter and daughter-in-law. He enjoyed the big band music of Benny Goodman and Glen Miller, and he would see the Glen Miller Orchestra whenever it came to town. Harry was very proud to have been married to Sue for 65 years. He was quick to show off his well-worn class ring of 75 years and was an avid fan of Big Orange football.
A great pride for Harry was being able to allow his children to graduate from college debt-free so that they might pursue their careers without financial burden.
Harry was a member of Germantown United Methodist Church, and previously he and his wife Sue were long time members of the St. Matthews United Methodist Church in Madison, MS. While at University of Tennessee he was a member of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity.
While organizing his belongings after his move to Germantown a poem was found in his papers. We think it is a good representation of how he might want to be remembered:
Afterglow
by Helen Lowrie Marshall
I’d like the memory of me to be a happy one.
I’d like to leave an afterglow of smiles when life is done.
I’d like to leave an echo whispering softly down the ways,
Of happy times and laughing times and bright and sunny days.
I’d like the tears of those who grieve, to dry before the sun;
Of happy memories that I leave when life is done.
Harry is survived by his daughter Lynne (Leah) and son Craig (Brittney), and nephew Matt Newton (Julie). He was preceded in death by his parents and his wife Sue. The family would like to thank the staff at The Village in Germantown and the caregivers who have assisted him the last few years. Donations in his memory can be made to the Methodist Children’s Homes in Jackson, Mississippi.
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