Harvey Schofield

[Continental59]

Hello Everyone,
Our friend Harvey Schofield has taken a turn for the worse. He is in Hospice care ...I went to see him the other day and to say good-bye....
He was in great spirits and we talked cars, specifications, MEL Performance parts and of course Lincolns and limos
Harvey is a walking talking encyclopedia of MEL information. A real asset to the hobby.
....The cancer has really taken its toll. I will keep you posted.
Anthony

Samaritan Hospice Rm 251

* (856) 596-1600

175 Madison Ave, Mt Holly, NJ 08060

[Continental59]

As of today April 30 Harvey is resting comfortably at home......

[Barry Wolk]

From the Lincoln Forum:

Sad News
by Stuart M. Cohen » 01 May 2010 17:09

It is with deep sadness that I post this. I got a call today that Harvey Schofield passed away Thursday morning. From the email sent out by Bill Breitwiesser of the Philly Region as found on the Professional Car Society forum:

Harvey's Schofield's funeral will take place Friday, May 7th at St. Andrews Methodist Church in Cherry Hill, N.J., which abuts Ponzio's Diner on the eastbound side of Route 70. The family has invited Harvey's friends to attend with their old cars for a well-derserved final display in his honor. Please arrive by 10 AM, one hour prior to the 11 AM start of the service, if you plan on displaying a vehicle. The services are expected to conclude by 1 PM, though the reception could run later.

Though Harvey's health troubles - starting with 2008 gall bladder surgery that took 40 pounds from his already-lean, 6-foot-3 frame - had given his hobby friends good cause to worry about him over the past couple of years, it was heartening to see that his ailments did not deter him from showing his extremely-rare, standard-wheelbase and short-stretch Lehmann-Peterson Lincolns at the 2008 PCS International in Mt. Laurel, NJ and the Northeast Chapter's 2009 spring show at Peddler's Village in Lahaska, PA.

During the decade that he served as the National Custom Class advisor to the LCOC, Harvey documented about 150 survivors out of the five hundred-or-so L-P Lincolns made from 1964 to 1970; out of this total, only six were built with other than a 34-inch center stretch (if you don't count the 36-inch extensions on the two 1963 prototypes), and Harvey owned three of them! These included a 1967 model 8-inch mini-stretch limousine originally built for John Searle, the CEO of Searle Pharmaceutical in Skokie, IL, "as a 65th birthday present to himself, when he decided he wasn’t going to drive himself through downtown Chicago traffic anymore"; a 1967 8-inch mini-stetch sedan, built WITHOUT a partition for John Fischer, the CEO of Anchor Hocking Glass in Lancaster, Ohio; and a standard-wheelbase 1965 Lehmann-Peterson Lincoln limousine, specially ordered for the publisher of the Philadelphia Inquirer , which incorporated a clever "top half" petition to allow un-impeded front seat travel (it's also the only known L-P survivor built without a vinyl roof, as well as the only one with an entirely stock exterior appearance).

Asked to explain his interest in these smaller L-P Lincolns, Harvey once told me: "Like John Searle, the original owner of my ’67 limo, I consider a long stretch somewhat obnoxious because I’m a regular-type guy."

In spite of his perpetual modestly, Harvey was proud to note his family was “several generations deep in craftspersons,” including a grandfather on his mother’s side who served as construction foreman for the barracks at New Jersey's Fort Dix during WW II. After graduating from Drexel University with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, Harvey entered the US Army as a 2nd Lieutenant in the ROTC program, and spent 31 years working for Rohm & Hass in Bristol, PA, where he specialized in industrial facilities engineering.

If there is anything good to say about Harvey's passing, it's that he's finally been reunited with his late wife Elaine, with whom he had one daughter, Miriam, the main recipient of our condolences along with her husband Paul and son P.J. Harvey's household also includes his beloved Dachshund Heidi, whom Harvey said is “long, low and black like most of my hobby cars.”

Harvey was the one who urged me to show my car at the national shows. He told me "if you're thinking about showing it, do it now because it's never going to look as good as it does now", so he' Bill Carter and I went to my first show in Ellenville, NY. That's what got me hooked, and it's history from there.

He will definitely be missed, as he was extremely knowledgeable on the slabsides. I'm really bummed I won't be able to go; I'm hoping there is a viewing Thursday night.

Stu

[Continental59]

Harvey Schofield, a collector of prized rare Lehmann-Peterson Continental Limousines, was no stranger to entering and even running the most prestigious national car meets. “I was a National Officer for 10 years,” he said, “and was a Custom Class Advisor for one-of-a-kind Lincolns.” He even earned Best of Show in a 2004 national meet.

Harvey’s collection proved quite rare: Of the 12 million cars produced by Ford Motor Company from 1964-69, only 100,000 were Lincolns and only 500 were Lincolns produced under a contract with Lehmann-Peterson. Of the 150 surviving Lehmann-Petersons, only six are shorter than the standard 34’ stretch limo. Harvey Schofield owned three of those six, a feat he called “a modern miracle because it’s so statistically improbable that anyone of modest means could acquire that many of the remaining cars.”

Last June, Harvey entered one of his prize-winning vehicles in a local car show in Cherry Hill to benefit Samaritan Hospice Veterans’ Hospice Services. Though he had been diagnosed with cancer in 2007, Harvey was still feeling well enough to carry on with his normal activities.

“I stopped by the Samaritan table” said the 74-year old Marlton resident, “and picked up a brochure to learn more about Samaritan just in case I ever needed them.” By late December ’09, his doctor advised him that the time had come to seek the help and comfort a hospice could provide rather than continuing curative treatments that were proving ineffective. Thinking back to his car show brochure, Harvey chose Samaritan.

Gratified with the “immediate response by Samaritan’s clinical team and the quality of its people,” the retired engineer used his time on Samaritan’s service to organize his affairs and stay as active as he could for as long as he could. Ever the engineer, Harvey conceived a formula to describe his last months of life under Samaritan’s care: HS + SH = HHHH. When asked to translate the formula he replied, “Harvey Schofield plus Samaritan Hospice equals Harvey’s Happy Highway to Heaven.”

During his final weeks, Harvey attended one final car show — a showing of his prize cars in his driveway to John and Deborah Giacoboni, organizers of the Veterans Car and Bike Show that Harvey had attended nearly one year earlier. “He’s loving this,” said his daughter Miriam. “It’s like his last hurrah!”

Harvey Schofield died peacefully on April 30 in the Samaritan Inpatient Hospice Center in Mount Holly. In the days prior to his death, he learned of a special honor. “This year’s 6’6” Best in Show Trophy in the Original Car and Truck category will be dedicated to Harvey Schofield,” said organizer John Giacoboni. Somewhere on Heaven’s Highway, Harvey’s driving a Lehmann-Peterson Lincoln and smiling.

The third annual Veterans Car and Bike Show benefiting Samaritan’s Veterans’ Hospice Services will take place at Cherry Hill High School West, 2101 Chapel Avenue West on Saturday, June 26 (Rain date June 27) from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. For more information or to become a sponsor, call John Giacoboni at (609) 780-6640.

Samaritan Hospice is the regional leader for hospice and palliative (comfort) care, grief support and counseling, end-of-life education, research and advocacy.

Samaritan is a not-for-profit, non-sectarian organization serving people in Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Gloucester and Mercer counties who are coping with serious illness or grief.

For more information, visit www.samaritanhospice.org.