Mr. Franklin & Mrs. Delores Dietzler 2013 Friends of Hoban
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his is a story about devotion. Devotion between a couple in their 65th year of marriage, devotion to the memory of their son, their only child, and devotion to helping students receive a Hoban education. This is a story about Franklin “Ken” Dietzler, his wife Delores and how they have become Friends of Hoban. Mr. Dietzler was born in 1925 in Shawano County, Wis., about 30 miles west of Green Bay. He grew up on a dairy farm in a town of 300 on the western side of Wisconsin. School was a typical Midwest rural one-room building for about 30 students. There, his young teacher “taught me to read and write and to love it. She set the pattern for me for the rest of my life.” He graduated from high school in 1943 and went into the Navy in 1944, performing training exercises on a destroyer for the latter part of World War II. It was quite an adventure for a 19-year-old boy who had never been more than 100 miles from home. He was discharged in 1946 and entered college at River Falls State Teachers College and majored in physics and math. That fall he met Delores, a young secretary who had grown up on a lovely farm in River Falls, Wis. She attended St. Mary’s parish, River Falls High School and business school. They were married in 1948 and two years later Daniel was born. “She never worked after that, but raised her baby and made a wonderful home for us,” Mr. Dietzler said. Mr. Dietzler graduated third in his class. His career path took him to the University of Minnesota, the Mayo Clinic, Goodyear Atomic Corporation and then to Goodyear headquarters in Akron, where he worked in Research and Development. Shortly after he arrived in 1957, a superior called him into his office and discussed at length the idea of bringing computers to Goodyear. He
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Hoban Highlights | Winter 2013
felt that one day computers would be important to the company. Mr. Dietzler researched and built a network of people in key departments in support of computers. In 1959, accounting acquired a small computer. Mr. Dietzler begged time on it to write programs to solve tire design problems. By 1963 he had convinced management that a separate computer was needed for R&D. He had one woman to keypunch cards and operate it at the cost of $34,000 per year. In 25 years, he went from a staff of one to managing 30 with a budget of $16 million. Goodyear had several hundred people with graphic displays hardwired into the system designing tires and tire molds. Basically, Mr. Dietzler played a key role in introducing Goodyear to the computer age. The Dietzlers made their home in West Akron and were members of St. Sebastian parish, where Danny attended elementary school. Mrs. Dietzler was active in Cub Scouts, taught CCD, helped at St. Sebastian’s, belonged to the Christ Child Society and helped in the hunger center. Mr. Dietzler described Danny, as his parents affectionately call him, as an able and prolific reader. He wanted to go to Borromeo Seminary but they decided it was not a good fit for him. Hoban was not as strong then as it is now, according to Mr. Dietzler, but it was far above any other school in the area at the time. “Danny thrived in all subjects but especially English. Brother Carl Shonk took him under his wing and pushed him,” Mr. Dietzler said. Danny placed first in the Ohio State English Achievement Test both his junior and senior year. He was on the speech and debate team and on the school newspaper. Danny graduated salutatorian of his class. He went to the University of Notre Dame as a Notre Dame scholar and excelled in all subjects. He took a creative writing course that was by invitation only. Danny aspired to go on to Harvard Law School. In 1970 the family returned to River Falls for Christmas with their family. When they returned home from Mass the following Sunday and only two days after Christmas, Dan said he was tired
and went upstairs to take a nap. When his mother called him for dinner he didn’t respond. The autopsy showed Danny had died of congestive heart failure. They learned his main aorta had never fully developed. “It was an unbelievable blow,” Mr. Dietzler said. The Dietzlers established a scholarship in their son’s name in 1998. They have added to it over the years and were one of the first members of the Heart of Hoban society. In the last 15 years they have attended every Endowed Scholarship Luncheon and most Extravaganzas, even after moving back to River Falls nine years ago. At the Endowed Scholarship Luncheons they have moved from a tearful first luncheon, when the memories were still raw, to being fully engaged with the students they meet. Their students are chosen based on true financial need—students who might not be at Hoban without the financial help of the Daniel J. Dietzler ’68 Memorial Scholarship. The Dietzlers are from a generation that believes in integrity, hard work, humility, being lifelong learners and having the sincere desire of giving back. “We hold Hoban in such great esteem. We are grateful to Hoban for the education it gave Dan, for the kindness shown on his death and the personal friendships of the brothers over the years,” Mr. Dietzler said. “And finally we are humbled by the great honor they bestow on us by this award. May God bless Hoban and all who serve it.” n Friends of Hoban | www.hoban.org