“I have to say that I’ve enjoyed everything that I’ve done,” Harvey said. “I’ve just felt very blessed to be able to do the things I wanted to do.”

Though he didn’t go on to study art at the University of Oregon because his painting style was unlike the impressionistic form he was taught, he has continued to use art throughout his various careers. A UO criminology class renewed his childhood interest in police work, and a new career path developed.

After completing the UO’s required two years of ROTC training during the Korean War, Harvey decided to continue with Advanced ROTC in order to stay in Eugene and complete his college education. He received his B.A. in psychology in 1952 and that same year married Carol Braun.

When many of his peers applied for the Air Force Advanced ROTC, Harvey selected the less-popular route into the infantry, though he knew it might mean living in a hole and fighting as a ground soldier. His father had served in the cavalry in WWI, and he felt the infantry was the closest thing to following in his footsteps.

But Harvey never had to live in a hole or experience the brutality of life as a ground soldier. Instead, he became 2nd lieutenant in the Infantry after attending the Associate Company Officer’s Course at Ft. Benning, Ga., and was sent to California to teach leadership to enlisted men who were interested in becoming noncommissioned officers.

By the time he was due to go to Korea, the war had ended, and Harvey found a logical career move into law enforcement. “I entered into a police career because I wanted to help people in times of need,” Harvey said.

In 1954 he entered the Portland Police Bureau as a patrolman in the traffic division. He later became an investigator and a detective and received a commendation for his work from then U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy.

Harvey said his most intriguing assignment came when he joined the homicide and robbery division. In an attempt to solve an ongoing purse-snatching problem in downtown Portland, Harvey posed as an old woman. As Harvey walked the city streets in a wig and one of his mother-in-law’s dresses, a man eventually took the bait.

“He grabbed the purse, and I grabbed him by the leg,” Harvey said. “When the wig came off, he really started screaming, but it brought an end to the problem.”

Over the years, he moved his way up the ranks to detective, sergeant, lieutenant, and finally captain in 1972. From 1969 through 1975, Harvey also taught classes in crime-prevention, police organization and management at Portland State University. In addition, he got a master’s degree in education from the University of Portland in 1975.

For most of his life, he had been active in the Catholic Church, and had decided that he would become even more involved upon retirement from the police bureau. Though he was still working as captain, Harvey and his wife began teaching religious education to kids in two parishes they attended.

The call to ministry took on a new importance when his wife was killed in 1980 by a drunk driver. On the first anniversary of her death, Harvey entered Mt. Angel Seminary in St. Benedict, Oreg.

“It wasn’t a moment of sudden realization or conversion or anything like that,” he said.

In 1986, at age 55, Harvey was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Orange County, Calif., and was assigned to St. Barbara’s Parish in Santa Ana. He soon became associate pastor in Mission San Juan Capistrano.

As a priest Harvey also conducted workshops for people who had lost a partner. In 1991 health problems forced Harvey to resign from priesthood. The next year he married Beverly Finnerty, a grade school librarian and widow he’d met in his workshop.

“I told the bishop when I left that I was going to write a book about leadership for clergy and others in ministry because I had seen such poor examples of leadership in the church,” Harvey said. His book, Who’s in Charge? Leadership Skills for Clergy and Others in Ministry, was published in 1996.

Reflecting on his lifetime of changes, Harvey is pleased with all that he’s accomplished.

“If I wanted to become a policeman, I was able to do that,” he said. “I wanted to become an army officer; I was able to do that. I wanted to become a priest, and I was able to do that. So it’s been a very satisfying life.”

— KN