By GEORGE FJELD
BRANDON- Dick Kirby met German-American master rocketeer Wernher von Braun in Maryland in the 1950s while welding on a stainless-steel gas tank for the Redstone rocket. Braun, after watching Kirby weld for a time, said “Good job, good job.” 18-year-old Kirby became a welder after enlisting in the US Army during the Korean conflict. Kirby, living with his grandparents in Rochester, Vermont after graduating from high school in Lynn, Massachusetts, first applied to work for Central Vermont Public Service (CVPS, now part of Green Mountain Power) but was turned away. Safety Director Roy Chase said he was too young and perhaps he should join the service. Dick did and the army taught him to weld in Huntsville, Alabama, where he earned the difficult-to-obtain “High-pressure pipe certification.”
Kirby was shipped to Japan on a 17-day ocean voyage, then Korea to work in the motor pool for the 25th Infantry Division, “The Wolfhounds.” He spent all his 13 months north of the 38th parallel in what is now North Korea. The motor pool was immediately behind the front lines as the trucks and artillery needed frequent repairs. Camped near Heartbreak Ridge, one night on guard duty he heard a mortar shell come in and land near him with metal hitting all around him. It was as black as night gets and his commander called out, “Kirby, are you okay?” and when Dick answered in the affirmative, the commander yelled “Get in here” calling him to the bunker nearby. Kirby couldn’t see his way and walked toward the voices before falling into the bunker and on top of his commander. Dick describes his service as “not a pleasure.” I personally cannot imagine. According to Kirby, word in the ranks of soldiers at the time was that General Eisenhower was a “glory hound, always urging his troops forward and never falling back.”
After his Korean service, he finished up his Army time in the rocket lab in Maryland, where he met von Braun. Upon returning to his parents’ house in Lynn, Massachusetts, he got a job with the Boston-Maine Railroad. He started out driving steam locomotive as his grandfather did before him (on the White River Railroad, the Peavine run from Rochester to Bethel) but was quickly moved to a diesel locomotive. However, driving a diesel just didn’t do it for young Dick, so he returned to his grandparents’ place in Rochester, Vermont, and reapplied at CVPS, where he was quickly hired. Assigned to Brandon, Kirby moved here and found housing with Mrs. Memoe, mother of Chuck Memoe, another local legend. Dick and teenage Chuck would play basketball in the yard on Franklin Street.
DICK’S GRANDFATHER WITH his steam locomotive in Rochester, Vermont.
Shortly after moving to Brandon, Dick met his future wife, Debbie Short, who was selling popcorn in the movie theater here in Brandon. Married in 1955, they lived in Manchester and then Brandon, where Dick built them a house on VT 73 between Brandon and Forestdale. They had 3 girls and 1 boy: Robin, Carrie, Suzanne, and Scott. Kirby built a larger house next door and lived there for decades. He had a fine welding shop in his garage and Debbie raised goats behind the house. He enjoyed feeding the goats and would get them hay every 2 weeks. Dick would do odd jobs welding as well as making many fine lamps and weathervanes. Many were true works of art and he showed and sold them in the Brandon Artists Guild.
DICK KIRBY and Gordie Ketcham on a cattle truck that hit a pole in Shoreham.
Kirby’s work as a lineman kept him quite busy. Routine repairs and maintenance were interspersed with repairing power poles and transformers damaged by automobile accidents and storms. Being on call meant going out at night in below-zero temperatures to fix a line in Ripton as well as fixing power outages at the Brandon Training School, home to 650+ residents. He recalls complaining to Joan from Thomas Answering Service about always waking him up!
ORANGE CVPS truck from the 1960s with (LtoR) Larry Fales, Hazen Spaulding, and Dick Kirby.
Kirby spent 38 years as a lineman for the utility company, climbing poles, and stretching and mending wire. He was a superintendent for a time but didn’t like the office work and cut in pay, so he returned to being a first-class lineman. Lineman got paid for overtime and being on call which made the pay greater. Dick retired 30 years ago and has spent a lot of time welding and goat tending since. He volunteers at the Brandon Artists Guild and meets with “the fellows” in Kennedy Park at 3 p.m. daily for a coffee. He and his wife Debbie celebrated their 68th wedding anniversary on Sept 2nd.
