He is survived by his wife of 51 years, Billye Bryant Harden; his sons Adam Matthew Harden (Stephanie Gellens), John Rothwell Harden (Elizabeth Hester), and Charles Thomas Harden III (Sacha Dyson); and eight grandchildren: Solon, Addison, and Tanner; Michelle, Lyndsay, Alexander, and Maxwell; and Evelyn, all of Tampa.
He was predeceased by his parents and by his sisters Elizabeth Harden and Louise Price, both of Norfolk.
He entered the U.S Navy at age 17 through the V-12 Navy College Training Program and attended Hampden-Sydney College and the University of South Carolina, graduating in 1945 with a BS in Naval Science/Mechanical Engineering and a commission as an Ensign. He served on active duty during World War II in the Pacific Theater aboard his beloved USS Shadwell (LSD-15). He was reactivated during the Korean Conflict, serving aboard the USS Glynn (APA-239) and USS LST 603. He served in the Naval Reserve until 1970.
He was a civilian employee of the US Army Corps of Engineers and employed in civilian shipyards in Baltimore, Jacksonville, and Tampa. He was president of Tampa Barge Service and in 1979 opened Harden Marine Associates, a consulting, marine surveying, and appraisal business, retiring in 1999. He was appointed to the Panama Bureau of Shipping, acting surveyor to Lloyd’s Register of Shipping, and accredited to the American Bureau of Shipping. He was an active member of the Society of Naval Architects, the American Society of Appraisers, Society of Accredited Marine Surveyors, the Royal Institute of Naval Architects, and was active in many maritime professional and related associations including the Propeller Club, Seaport Sertoma, and others. From 1998 to 2015, he was the Marine Superintendent and a volunteer aboard the S.S. American Victory (VC2-S-AP2), a ship of the civilian sister class of Navy APAs. He also served as Officer in Charge of the American Victory’s riding crew when she was towed dead ship from the James River Reserve Fleet to her present berth in Tampa.
His interests were poetry, history, and anything that touched salt water.
In lieu of flowers, memorial may be made to St. John’s Episcopal Church in Tampa, the S.S. American Victory Mariners Memorial & Museum ship, or a youth sailing program. A public service will be held at a later date.
Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark;
For tho’ from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crost the bar.
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