HAWAII SECTION

Francis Rhodes Montgomery was one of the founders of the Hawaii Section of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers chairing the organizing committee in 1953. He was the Section chairman in 1955-1956 besides being the ASME Regional Secretary in 1954-1956. He was honored as a Life Fellow of the Society. Montgomery was a member and chairman of the Hawaii State Board of Registration between 1962 to 1971 receiving the Distinguished Service Certificate from the National Council of State Board of Engineering Examiners in 1967.

He joined the Hawaiian Electric Company, Inc. in 1951 while maintaining his own consulting mechanical engineering firm between 1953-1963. During his career with HECO, he had three publications on electric generation. Montgomery retired from HECO in 1979 at the age of 62 as Vice President of Engineering.

Francis Montgomery died unexpectedly in London, England in July 1985. The family of Mr. Montgomery wanting his accomplishments remembered approached the Hawaii Section of ASME in 1985 for ideas. A scholarship was first suggested, but Mrs. Margaret Montgomery wanted something different and more meaningful. Thus the Design Competition was established in Francis Rhodes Montgomery's honor for his support and dedication to Mechanical Engineering.

The Hawaii Section Chairman working closely with the Board of Directors of the Montgomery Foundation traditionally spearheads the competitions by coordinating activities with the ASME, Hawaii Section, Awards Committee; Professors Ronald Knapp and Mehrdad Ghasemi Nejhad; and the ASME Hawaii Section. The ASME, Hawaii Section, provides the master of ceremony and three judges from the Section membership for the competition.

Mrs. Margaret L. Montgomery, Thomas R. Montgomery, and Rev. Charles T. Crane along with past Section chairmen Gary M. Ishikawa (1986-1987), Robert G.F. Lee (1985-1986), and Kent Murata (1983-1984) formed the Board of Directors of the Montgomery Foundation. They had served on the Board since the inception of the Foundation, managing resources, providing guidance, and have worked with the UH to develop the format in making the competition what it is today.