Harold B. Swan was married to Hilda Carver for 66 years. Harold started his bee business in 1946.
He loved telling stories. It was a skill he honed through a penchant for risk-taking and hours of practice. Many of those hours were spent around the kitchen table and many of those risks ended up being terrific stories.
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About the author:
Harold Swan was born on Thanksgiving Day, 1924. He lived in the same residence in Brewer Maine for all of his 93 years. He loved nature, gardening, and most of all, bees.
At the age of 19, young Harold, ordered his first beehive from Sears Roebuck.
Harold was in the service from 1943-1946. When he returned from the service, he got more and more involved in bees, and together with his father formed R. B. Swan and Son, Inc.
In 2002, Harold sold R. B. Swan and Son to Lincoln Sennett who moved Swan's Honey to its present home in Albion, ME. Harold and his wife Hilda, kept just one or two hives and a beekeeping supply business. This kept him in touch with the hobby and hobbyists he did so much to encourage.
At the 2015 MSBA annual meeting and conference, he and Hilda were honored to be awarded the MSBA Lifetime Achievement Award for their dedication to promoting beekeeping in Maine.
On January 14, 2018 Maine lost a pillar of the beekeeping community.