John Harland Dittfach (1918 - 2008)

Born 17 Apr 1918 in Ramsey, Minnesota, United States

Husband of Ruth Lord (Tubman) Dittfach — married 23 Aug 1956 in Massachusetts, USA

Died 27 Feb 2008 at age 89 in Belmont, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States

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Biography

John Harland Dittfach was born on 17 Apr 1918 in Ramsey, Minnesota, USA.^[1][2]

Married Katherine Hemphill^[3] about 1946 (to her death in 1951)

Children:
Gretchen Ann Dittfach 1947 Minnesota
Katherine Dittfach 1949

Married Ruth Lord (Tubman) Poole about 1956.

Children:
Susan Mary Dittfach 1957

John died on 27 Feb, 2008^[2] in Belmont, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA at age 89, and was buried in South Amherst Cemetery, Amherst, Hampshire, Massachusetts, USA.^[4]

Obituary

Obituary: John H. Dittfach, professor emeritus of Mechanical Engineering March 5, 2008

John H. Dittfach, 89, of Belmont, professor emeritus of Mechanical Engineering and one of the first faculty members in the School of Engineering, died Feb. 29 after a short illness.

Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, he was a graduate of the University of Minnesota, where he received his B.S.M.E. in 1947 and his M.S.M.E. in 1948. Later that year he came to Amherst to join the newly established School of Engineering as an assistant professor of Engineering. He was promoted to associate professor in 1952 and professor in 1956.

He also served as associate department head and undergraduate program director from 1968 to 1990, when he retired.

In 1965, he received the Distinguished Teaching Award and a year later he was recognized for excellence in instruction by the Western Electric/American Society of Engineering Education, New England Section. In 1987, he received the Dean’s Distinguished Service Award from the College of Engineering.

In 1955, he was instrumental in founding the campus chapter of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). He served as a board member of SAE from 1952-62.

He was also the administrator of a 1963 National Science Foundation grant for the purchase of a supersonic wind tunnel, a lower velocity wind tunnel and a hot wire turbulence anemometer.

He served on a number of University and College of Engineering committees and was a member of the Faculty Senate.

A resident of Amherst for 58 years, he was also active in the community.

After their daughter, Susan Mary was born with Down syndrome in 1957, he and his wife, Ruth, discovered that few services for handicapped children existed in Western Massachusetts and they joined the Hampshire County Association of Retarded Children. They were instrumental in growing the organization and merging it into the United ARC of Franklin and Hampshire Counties. For many years, they took turns serving as the organization’s president and in other leadership posts. He served on the board until 2005.

He remained active in service to the handicapped community throughout his life. In the 1960s, he served on the state area board for mental health and mental retardation. For 35 years, he served on the board of Riverside Industries, an Easthampton workshop and training center for disabled adults. In Northampton, he helped to start the first preschool for children with special needs.

In Amherst, he helped develop and served on the board of Open Arms - A Peer Support Project, now a program of the town’s Leisure Services and Supplemental Education program. Both Dittfachs were repeatedly honored for their service to their church, scouting, the community and handicapped citizens.

Ruth (Poole) Dittfach died in 2000.

He leaves two daughters, Katherine Jacobson, of Tucson, Ariz., and Gretchen Shubrooks, of Waban, and two sons, Jeffrey Poole, of Fitchburg, and William Poole, of San Francisco, two grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

Funeral services are Saturday, March 8 at 11 a.m. at South Congregational Church, South Amherst, followed by a reception in the church vestry.

In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting donations to South Congregational Church, 1066 South East St., Amherst 01002, or to United ARC of Franklin and Hampshire Counties, 111 Summer St., Greenfield 01301.^[5]

Sources

1. ↑ "Web: Minnesota, Birth Index, 1900-1934," Ancestry.com.Ancestry Record 9196 #920949
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} "United States Social Security Death Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JGK1-3NP : 20 May 2014), John H Dittfach, 27 Feb 2008; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing).
3. ↑ Katherine J Dittfach on Find A Grave: Memorial #125465707 accessed on 07 Mar 2019
4. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #125465697 retrieved 04 Dec 2017
5. ↑ UMassAmherst News Articles, 05 Mar 2008; Obituary for John H Dittfach

See also:

• Ancestry Profile
• "United States Social Security Death Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JGK1-3NP : 20 May 2014), John H Dittfach, 27 Feb 2008; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing).
• "United States Public Records, 1970-2009," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KLHF-V19 : 22 May 2014), John Bittfach, Residence, Waban, Massachusetts, United States; a third party aggregator of publicly available information.
• "United States Census, 1920," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MW14-DBW : accessed 4 December 2017), John H Dittfact in household of Mary Meyer, St Paul Ward 10, Ramsey, Minnesota, United States; citing ED 122, sheet 13B, line 72, family 297, NARA microfilm publication T625 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1992), roll 856; FHL microfilm 1,820,856.
• "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X3D3-GD8 : accessed 4 December 2017), John H Dittfath in household of Mary Meyer, St Paul, Ramsey, Minnesota, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 186, sheet 14A, line 13, family 186, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 1120; FHL microfilm 2,340,855.
• "United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KSLX-P55 : accessed 26 December 2016), John Dittfach in household of Helen Dittfach, Ward 10, St. Paul, St. Paul City, Ramsey, Minnesota, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 90-203, sheet 4A, line 3, family 89, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 2001