Harold Boyle

Boyle began his career as an $18-a-week police reporter with the Portland Press in 1920. He joined the Portland Press Herald in 1925 and later became financial editor for Guy Gannett Publishing Co., which operated five newspapers in Maine.

Boyle was best known, however, for his columns, which he began writing at age 72, 10 years after he had retired as financial editor.

'Hal Boyle Recalls,' which appeared in the Portland Evening Express' and 'The Way It Was,' in the Maine Sunday Telegram were anecdotal and sometimes humorous reminisces of local history, told in a simple, understated style. 'The Best of Boyle,' a collection of his finest columns, was published in 1980 by Guy Gannett Publishing Co.

'I write more, get more readership, and have more fun than I did during the 39 years I worked as financial editor for Gannett,' Boyle once said. 'These days I write human interest stories, and they go over bigger than the money-and-business stories ... Does that say something about a society that people accuse of being money crazy?'

Harold received a Lifetime Service Award from the Maine Press Association in April 1982. Always deeply interested in space, he was present at the first moon launch and also at the first nuclear testing, which he wrote about in his book. Hal Boyle was well known in the United States political circuits and was friends with many notable politicians- with some of these being recurring characters in his "The Way it Was" columns.