Harold Bertram West  

Harold Bertram West born 14 Mar 1892 in Syracuse, Onondaga, New York Death: 1954 Note: burial: SEP 25,1954 Crown Hill Cemetery Indianapolis Marion County Indiana, USA Plot: Sec: L, Lot: D-2 son of George J West & Lucena B -- West Baking, Inc.

Harold B. West was born in Syracuse, New York, in 1892. He began showing his entrepreneurial talent at an early age, establishing his first business venture with a carrying route for the Saturday Evening Post, later acquiring a series of routes all over his hometown and hiring other boys to deliver the periodical.

Following high school, Mr. West attended the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, working his way through college as a tutor, and completing the Wharton School of Business four-year program in three years. During his time at Wharton, Mr. West decided to enter the bread baking business.

After graduation, he accepted an internship at a bakery in Washington, DC, where he was approached to enlist during World War I to direct the establishment of what was at the time the world’s largest overseas bakery, producing 800,000 lbs. of bread daily to feed U.S. troops.

Leaving the U.S. Army as a captain in 1919, he selected Indianapolis as the site for establishing his own bakery, purchasing the Daugherty Cake Company and using it as the basis for organizing West Baking Company that same year.

By the end of the 1920s, Mr. West had built his enterprise into one of the largest independent bakeries in the county, promoting that angle by splashing the words “Emphatically Independent” across the company’s delivery vehicles. West Baking Company continued to thrive throughout the 1930s, bread being a staple item of most people’s diets, even in times of economic crisis.

During World War II, Mr. West was well enough recognized throughout the baking industry to be tapped as a bakery consultant for the U.S. Secretary of War, participating in numerous conferences in Washington, DC and inspecting bakeries at military installations. Additionally, he served as co-chair of the Marion County Defense Bond Committee during the war.

Throughout his career, Mr. West was also involved in a large number of civic activities. He helped to establish the Indianapolis Community Fund (later United Way of Indianapolis), serving twice as its campaign chair and also as its president. He was also a key member of the original Marion County Juvenile Justice Committee and served as president of the Social Hygiene Association. Additionally, he was a director of the Fletcher Trust Company, and served for four years as a director of the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce as well as seven years on the finance committee of that organization. He rounded out his community service as a member of the Indianapolis Hospital Development Association and with service on the boards of the American Bankers’ Association and the Chicago Theological Seminary.

Mr. West was very active in his spiritual life as a member of the First Congregational Church of Indianapolis. A trustee of the church, he also served for many years on its foreign missions committee.

Later, he was one of the founding members of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions of the Congregational Church. These important associations led him to note the need for assistance in developing countries, and to establish a fund for the creation of the West Foundation to help provide such aid in his will.

After his passing in 1954, the West Foundation was incepted in 1958 as a testament to his dedication to improving the lives of people around the world.

married 23 Jun 1923 ,Marion, Indiana Hilda Kirkman born 3 Jul 1898 - Indiana died May 1984 - Indianapolis, Marion, Indiana burial: MAY 29,1984 Crown Hill Cemetery Indianapolis Marion County Indiana daughter of Roscoe E. Kirkman & Geneva Hill

Hilda K. West (nee Kirkman) was born in Richmond, Indiana in 1898. The daughter of Indiana state senator Roscoe Kirkman, and suffragette and temperance advocate Ginevra Hill Kirkman, she held the position of organist at Second Lutheran Church in Richmond at age 14, and was valedictorian of the Richmond High School Class of 1915 at 16 years of age.

She graduated from Indiana University in 1920 as a member of Delta Gamma Sorority and Mu Phi music sorority as well as being concertmistress of the Indiana University Symphony Orchestra.

Mrs. West moved to Indianapolis that same year.Trained as both musician and teacher, she immediately began teaching at Emmerich Manual High School on the city’s south side.

After meeting Harold West at a garden party, she married him in 1923. Upon beginning their life together, she reminded him that cooking and cleaning were not her fortes; he informed her that they would hire someone to handle these responsibilities as she had important work to complete in the community.

This work, alongside raising their two children and maintaining her professional position as concertmistress of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra from 1930-1937, became her life’s mission.

A civic leader in all respects, Mrs. West served on multiple boards of community agencies, including Flanner House (1937-1955), Day Nursery Association (1938-1955), Fletcher Place Community Center (1947-1962), the United Way and its predecessor, the Community Fund (1950-1967), and the Social Health Association (1961-1984).

Additionally, she served as a trustee of Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana (1963-1972) and was the first woman board member of the YMCA of Central Indiana. She also served on the board of the YMCA Foundation. Additionally, she chaired the construction committee for First Congregational Church from 1954-1957, and served as director and vice president of her husband’s business, West Baking Company, from 1924-1957.

In 1956, she was presented the B’Nai Brith Community Service Woman of the Year Award, and in 1957 she received the Women’s Community Service Award from the Methodist Church for her work as president of Fletcher Place Community Center. Both awards reflected her work in early race relations, equality of rights and opportunities for all races having been a lifelong passion for Mrs. West. This high level of interest for others of diverse culture and background made her ideal to chair the board of directors for the West Foundation following her husband’s death in 1954. As with all her activities, she was intimately involved in all aspects of the creation and operation of the foundation from its inception in 1958 to her own passing in 1984.

They had:

Richard A. West m. Florence [-?-].


Stephen Robert West born August 10, 1931 d July 17, 2010