The Bourgoin family is deeply saddened to announce the passing of our

father, grandfather, and great grandfather, Harold “Lucky” Bourgoin on

Saturday April 25th, 2020 at 8:40pm.

“Lucky” as he was known to virtually everyone, was ninety-seven years

old and passed away at Overlake Hospital in Bellevue after suffering
the effects of COVID-19.

He and our mom Jo celebrated seventy-three years of marriage just

seven weeks earlier in March. He is survived by a clan of kids, grandkids
and great grandkids who
will miss him dearly, who loved him immensely, and who
will be forever grateful for his love, influence and support
of all of us throughout our lives.

Lucky was born on September 23, 1922 in St. Louis,

Missouri to Helen (Rose) Bourgoin and Harold Sherwood
Bourgoin, Sr. He lost his father to an automobile accident
when he was thirteen and was raised through the great
depression by his mom and his uncle. As a teenager, an
errant bullet from a .22 rifle struck him in the back of his
head and lodged there. It was inoperable at the time so
that bullet remained in the back of his head his entire life.
That is how he earned the nickname "Lucky", and since he
seriously disliked his name Harold, "Lucky" stuck with him.

As a young man Lucky developed an interest and love for aviation. He graduated from high school and
earned an apprenticeship as a tool and die maker for Curtis-Wright Aircraft Company near Dayton, Ohio.
He worked there until the attack on Pearl Harbor, whereupon he enlisted in
the US Army Air Corp as an Aviation Cadet
at nineteen years old. He began flight
training and eventually landed in the
376th Heavy Bombardment Group, the
famous Liberandos of the 15th Air Force.
He flew fifty-two missions in the B-24
Liberator throughout WWII over Italy,
Romania, Austria, and Germany, including
the epic low-altitude raid on the fuel
refineries at Ploesti, Romania, where he was severely wounded by
gunfire from a German fighter plane.
After WWII ended, Lucky was stationed for a time at Keesler Field in Biloxi, MS. In 1946, he and his
buddies met a young woman in the lounge at the Buena Vista Hotel there. There was a coin toss to see
which of the guys would win the right to ask her out. Lucky got
lucky and won the toss. That young woman was Josephine (“Jo”)
Baricev. She was a waitress at the French Café in Biloxi owned by
her older brother Joe, so the next week Lucky stopped by to ask
her out. They soon fell in love and were married on March 6th,
1947. Shortly thereafter Lucky was shipped out to Thule, Greenland
as part of the Eastern Reconnaissance Group, flying B-29s on secret
missions over eastern Siberia, locating and mapping Soviet military
installations and nuclear weapon test sites.

During his military career, he flew everything from the Curtis

“Jenny” trainer through B-52’s. He was a member of the “Eniwetok
Guinea Pigs” and flew B-29’s on several of the post-war nuclear
tests in the South Pacific. He was aboard a B-52 for first non-stop, aerial
refueled, around-the-world jet flight that flew out of Castle Air Force base,
and was among the first to fly a jet bomber over the North Pole before
that was a common route. He flew twenty-four-hour airborne alerts in B-
52’s out of Guam during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Over the years, Lucky and Jo were stationed at various Air Force bases all
over the country, during which time they had six children; a daughter
Sharon, born in 1949, who sadly died shortly after birth, Michael born in
1951, Bobby in 1953, Brian in 1956, Rick in 1959, and Dan in 1963.

Lucky retired from the US Air Force,

Strategic Air Command in 1965 as a
Lieutenant Colonel with over 11,000 flight hours as a Pilot/Master
Navigator/Bombardier and instructor on B-52’s. Having served active
duty in WWII, Korea and Vietnam he was awarded two Distinguished
Flying Crosses, Six Air Medals, two Presidential Unit Citations for
extraordinary heroism and the Purple Heart, among others.

After retirement, Lucky and Bob McNary, a friend from the Air Force,
together bought a fishing resort on the north shore of Lake Pend
Oreille in Hope, Idaho, naming it Lucky Mac's resort. Lucky, Jo and the
five boys moved from Castle Air Force Base in Atwater, California to
Hope in the summer of 1965. In 1968 Lucky realized that the revenues generated by an idyllic fishing
resort could not meet the economic demands of putting five boys through college, so in 1968 the family
relocated to Bellevue, Washington where Lucky joined Boeing at the 747 plant at Paine Field in Everett.
He remained there until 1971, when the “Boeing Bust” recession cut the company’s staff by nearly 50%.
Lucky enrolled at the University of Washington, getting his degree in Business Administration and had a
successful career in real estate until he retired for good in 1985.
Over the next 35 years as the boys moved away, returned to the northwest, went to college or pursued
careers, married, and had children, Lucky and Jo became Grandparents and later, Great Grandparents.
They were always the center of
the family hub and remained in
their home in Bellevue until
2017 when they moved to a
memory care facility nearby
where Jo remains today.

Lucky is remembered for so

many things, not the least of
which were his generosity;
always willing to jump in and
help others. Every project he
took on he approached with a
rare focus and precision. He
did his best to always try to do
the right thing. An exemplary
member of The Greatest Generation, he loved his family and his country and was by any measure a
"good man". He will remain so in our hearts forever.