Sid Ellis
He traveled through the chairs on the Fort Worth Chapter of ASHRAE and took the challenge as President from 2006-2007. Then he served on the Board of Governors the year after and again this year. He is always more than willing to help anyone in the chapter and has served as a great leader, business guru, mentor, and all-around great friend in this industry. He feels the highlight of his ASHRAE past was the year he worked on the Research Committee. As Research Committee chairman he was able to achieve over $34K for the year. He has one recommendation to the young members getting involved in ASHRAE today. Get involved by meeting and learning from other chapter members. Absorb the knowledge of chapter and the industry as a whole for 10 years and then make the commitment to serve as an officer for the chapter. You will gain so much in a short period of time. His only suggestion for improvement of the chapter would be getting some of the older members back involved at some of the social events. He credits his success to a lot of old guys in ASHRAE that believed in him.
Emil Friberg, P.E.
Friberg Associates Inc.
Ashrae Member since June 1965
I had the privilege of sitting down with Emil after a recent class and truly felt his love and passion for ASHRAE and the Fort Worth Chapter. He is proud to say that this ASHRAE group has been a high standard group since the 1960’s but he is extremely thrilled to see the enthusiasm of the current board and its leadership in strengthening the presence and success of the Fort Worth Chapter. I asked him what he feels our challenges are in today’s market. He replied making the ASHRAE Standard 62 and 90 compliant with each job. As well as achieving LEED certification on jobs. It is a new ballgame.
Buddy Pace
Texas Air Systems
Ashrae Member since Sept 1986
Buddy has been married for 23 years and has 2 beautiful children. He is co-owner of one of the fastest growing companies in the metroplex. He does remember back in the day when our monthly meetings were held over dinner at night at Woodhaven Country Club. There was a tech session prior to sitting down to dinner. Only around 30 active members at the time. He was involved with Les Brown when it was moved to the Petroleum Club and to a daytime luncheon in 2002. This was a huge move that increased attendance and membership in the following years. Dee Gibson encouraged him to take a chair. In 2003, he became President of the Fort Worth Chapter. Together with Les Brown they started the push to reach high goals in the PAOE points.
He provided insight into the mysterious “briefcase” that has been handed down over the years in the Treasurer position of the board. He clarified that it was originated by Charlie Wiedemeyer and Ralph Drews back in the late 60’s or early 70’s. Buddy was instrumental in starting the box of name tags which allowed each person to easily find their name tags at each meeting and then held responsible to replace it in the same filing location to be easily found at the next event. Otherwise they would be scattered over a table to search through.
Buddy believes we have a strong board of governors at present and hopes the board will continue to provide seminars for educating our members and future members.
W.O. Kelly, III
Mech Tech Sales
Member Since 1960
After sitting down with the ever so charming “WO Kelly”, I was able to see into a very interesting human being. Besides his ongoing wit and humor, he is very dedicated to the HVAC industry and all that surrounds that.
He went to Texas A & M and obtained his Mechanical Engineering Degree. During his junior year, they went on field trips to Lockheed and Bell Helicopter to see how the engineers worked and quickly realized that he did not like that they were working in tiny cubicles and looked like cages. He then decided to change directions and go into engineering sales instead. He obtained his Bachelor of Business degree as well.
He started out at Trane in Dallas back in 1959 and went to Lacrosse, Wisconsin to work with the Trane engineering group.
He came back to Dallas and became a member of Ashrae back in 1960. He immediately became involved with the membership and started the tour through “the chairs” of the Ashrae board. He achieved the Golden Gavel as President of the Fort Worth Chapter in 1975-76. The membership was not as large as today but the economy was doing quite well at the time.
He revealed that the most challenging part of achieving the Golden Gavel was selecting the proper staff to assist and keeping all the tasks in line. He credits a lot of that success to Linda who was the ASHRAE Secretary at the time. When asked what would he have done differently during that period, he said he would have never stopped at the restaurant on the bus trip for food. Their food never arrived and they were out of time so they decided to get up and leave. The restaurant manager was so enraged that the large group was leaving even though they had not delivered the food as of yet, he demanded that the ASHRAE group pay their bill anyway. Wo asked Harold James who was the treasurer at the time to go ahead and pay the man which would also bring the chapter account to zero. Grant Johnson was kind enough to pay his next years dues to keep the chapter solvent. They left without any food.
His advice for future members is to fulfill your membership and attend the events and meetings. You will gain much needed knowledge, understandings of the local industry and many longtime friendships. Get involved and go through the various positions “chairs” of the ASHRAE board. If you reach the President level, be sure to select a good group to support your position and keeps the tasks moving. He feels reaching the “Golden Gavel” level was the most rewarding highlight of his longtime ASHRAE membership. He got in doors with his career that may never have happened without ASHRAE.
LeRoy “Rush” Klein, Jr.
Born September 20, 1924, Kansas City, Mo. but moved to Texas 1930. (Got here quick as he could). Started out in Dallas,, graduated from Highland Park High School in 1941. Earned letter in baseball and later joined the Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts (excelled up to Eagle). Visited Yankee Stadium in 1934, saw Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and the rest of “Murder’s Row”.
He joined the new Naval Reserve Training Corps at Rice in 1941 just before Pearl Harbor. Eventually served in the Pacific Fleet at Okinawa – retuned home after the war after serving in the Japanese Occupation Forces.
Returned to Rice and completed BS degree in ME in 1947 and went to work at Lone Star Gas Co. designing HVAC systems for residences and small commercial units.
Married Adele Marie Austin in August of 1948. Their marriage lasted a wonderful 61 years.
From Lone Star Gas, he moved to Bell Helicopter in Hurst to the Plant Engineering Dept. From there he went to Sears Roebuck Property Division in Dallas, and then on to the Architectural/Engineering offices of Lawrence D. White Associates in Fort Worth. He then opened his own office designing HVAC and Plumbing Systems. He finished his career with the firm of Yandell & Hiller.
Along the way he joined ASHRAE, and served on some committees, until Dee Gipson told him that he should start up the chairs toward the Chapter presidency. And you always tried to listen to Dee, so eventually wound up as Chapter President in 1983, and lead the bus to Lubbock in 1984. You can imagine his feellings when Bill Collins stepped up to the microphone and asked: “Is Rush Klein here”. The Golden Gavel went to Fort Worth soon later. He was saddened that Charlie Phillips followed him the next year and was denied the “golden Gavel” even though he had high scores. He feels that the biggest challenge on the board is Research Promotion. It is never fun collecting money during tough times. Economy was starting to grow again.
His only recommendation is addressed to the region and feels each chapter should be in existence for a minimum of 5 years before being considered for “Golden Gavel”.
He did find time for other ventures. He served as Green Marshall at the Colonial Golf Tournament at the 18th green for 15 years. He was recognized by the State Board for over 50 years as a Registered Professonal Engineer.
Life Member of ASME and ASHRAE organizations. 50 years as a register Scouter. Presbyterian Elder. Former member of the Bass Section of the Oratorio Chorus at the local Baptist Seminary, and sang “Messiah” with the chorus in Israel in 1999. Named “Volunteer of the Year” for the Fort Worth Zoo, June 1, 2000. Boy Scouts of America recognitions include Vigil Honor – Order of the Arrow, and Silver Beaver Award. He is very proud of his accomplishments as well he should be. It was quite a pleasure and honor to sit down and discuss his endeavors and see his awards and military achievements. He is quite a mentor for anyone in our chapter to look up to.
