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University of Missouri University of Alaska Anchorage University of Alaska Fairbanks

John Hilpert Obituary

Former resident John Meier Hilpert, 91, died April 6, 2009, in Burien, Wash. In accordance with his wishes, there will be no funeral except a private family graveside service at Tahoma National Cemetery, a veterans cemetery near Seattle. The son of Meier G. and Emma E. Hilpert, he was born July 25, 1917, in Bethlehem, Pa. He earned bachelor's, master's, and Ph.D. degrees in engineering and management at Oregon State, George Washington and Iowa State universities. John was employed in industry and government in New York City; Philadelphia, Pa.; Washington, D.C.; Augusta; Idaho Falls, Idaho; and Los Angeles. From California, in 1959, the year Alaska became a State, he drove to Fairbanks, where he established a graduate program in engineering management at the University of Alaska. After several years, engineers in Anchorage and Juneau asked that his program be offered to them, and for 25 years he commuted by air each week to offer his classes. After a dozen years, he moved to Anchorage but commuted back to Fairbanks and initiated a Department of Mathematics, Science, and Engineering in what developed into the University of Alaska Anchorage. Except for two years on leave when he taught at the University of Missouri, John remained at the University of Alaska until he retired at age 70, when he was awarded the title of Professor Emeritus. He served as engineering officer for 374th Squadron, 308th Bomb Group in China in World War II; and was recalled in 1950 with the 116th Engineer Combat Battalion in Korea. He was awarded multiple campaign ribbons, battle stars and a Bronze Star. After he retired, he lived in Ketchikan for several years, and in 1996 moved to Des Moines, Wash., where he enjoyed the view of traffic on Puget Sound from his window. He had a variety of hobbies and recreational activities, was interested in classic automobiles, and enjoyed long walks. Survivors include his sister, Myra Hilpert; brother, Dr. Conrad Hilpert; and niece and nephews, Lynne (Hilpert) Duncan, Fredrich Hilpert and Quentin Hilpert. A more complete obituary and online guest book may be viewed at www.legacy.com.

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Published by Anchorage Daily News from Apr. 19 to Apr. 20, 2009.

Memories and Condolences
for John Hilpert

Sponsored by The Estate of John Meier Hilpert.

11 Entries

Ted Olesh

May 23, 2009

John and I met 10 years ago by a simple fluke of fate. I was walking at the marina in July 1999 and as I passed a bench where an older gentleman was sitting we both said hello. We got to talking and made a plan to meet there again the following week. We began a long friendship of having lunch together about once a month. I would pick him up at Wesley Homes and we would pick a lunch spot. Then later go for a drive; usually ending up at the marina to watch the seagulls and ships go by.
John was gracious and always paid for lunch. In turn, I was blessed with the company of a dear friend who was living a long life and had much wisdom and insight.
I truly enjoyed John's company. He still possessed a boyish charm and humor in his old age. He had a wonderful mind that never waivered; always asking and remembering about my family and siblings.
I shall miss such an endearing friend and hope someday to find someone like him.
Blessings to you now John.

Dennis Pullar

May 20, 2009

Doc Hilpert, “Daddy John,” left a lifelong impression on all that lived in his dormitory. I had the good fortune to live in his dormitory for 3 year of my 5 years at the U. The first year with Doc came about because of my failure to insure on campus housing the preceding spring, being over 21 years of age in a university awash in new students (cherubs?), which necessitated housing at the Fort Wainwright Civilian Bachelor Quarters (CBQ) in the fall of 1961. This was my first exposure to Doc Hilpert and his dry manner. Because of the age restrictions imposed by the military and the need to ride a bus to campus, the CBQ was inhabited by an assemblage of veterans studying under the GI Bill, “mature” students and sundry irreverent types. His job was to keep his charges out of really serious trouble while avoiding the ire of the military. More than once he received a call from a dorm resident that had journeyed to Fairbanks for an evening of carousing or the movies and was unable to get home because the car wouldn’t start, busses had stopped running or were in no condition to drive. He would jump into his Willy’s Station Wagon, jumper cables and blue box (fully charged booster battery) at the ready and head to Fairbanks to retrieve his needy charge(s). These calls were infrequent but everybody knew we could count on him without recrimination. Furthermore, on Sunday afternoon his door was open for those that wanted to chit chat or needed to talk to someone, and this was many years before on campus counseling centers became a de rigueur campus fixture. He was truly the dorm father and served as a surrogate for our fathers. He could always be counted on. We cheerfully followed him as he relocated to Harriet Hess Hall then on to McIntosh Hall.
In addition to living in his house, I had the good fortune to take a class from him. He taught us a myriad of quantitative measures to apply to the world we live in. But far more significantly he showed us the qualitative nature of management: not everything can be reduced to a number and a calculation.
. The tireless commitment of Doctor Hilpert to his students and community are benchmarks this former student respectfully admires. His life exemplifies Duty, Honor, and Country, the hallmarks of the generation that emerged from the depression to serve the needs of their country.

Goodby Doc

Ann Tremarello

April 25, 2009

Dr. John Hilpert was one of UAF's finest. He took genuine interest in his students and many of them have him to thank for their professional successes. He was a favorite of the Registrar's Office staff as well. He visited with us regularly even when he had no official business. After one of his trips, he brought us a one-of-a-kind hand made tapestry from South America. It was treasured by the staff not only because of its beauty but because it was a gift from Dr. Hilpert. He will long be remembered by his students and those of us who were fortunate enough to work with him

Ann Tremarello, Registrar Emerita

Robert Perkins

April 24, 2009

Dr. Hilpert was the founder of Engineering Management Programs at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the University of Alaska Anchorage. The University of Alaska hired him in 1959 and he began teaching in Fairbanks. In 1962 he began commuting and offering courses in Anchorage. He moved to Anchorage in the 1970’s.

John Hilpert gave me excellent advice about my engineering education in Anchorage, where I took graduate classes at UAA in the late 70’s. And, after I moved to Fairbanks, I was fortunate that in the early 80’s he reversed his early migrations and flew from Anchorage to Fairbanks to offer some classes at UAF. I rated him as one of the best instructors I have had in college or graduate school. Dr. Hilpert excelled at both oral and written communications, and inspired all his students to improve those skills. He was knowledgeable, witty, and a fine person.

Here is something he wrote about engineering management in 1966. “The Engineering Management Program was designed for graduate engineers who have sufficient experience to be ready for supervisory and management assignments. The aim was fourfold:
1. To prepare engineers in Alaska for more responsible jobs
2. To encourage management of technical activities here by Alaskans rather than by people brought in for the key jobs
3. To stimulate engineers to develop Alaska
4. To improve management of engineering operations in the state.”
Dr. Hilpert met those aims for hundreds of engineers and technical managers in Alaska.

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Jim Behlke

April 23, 2009

My dad, Chuck Behlke, who worked with John, passed away a few years ago. Dad always had good things to say about "Hilpert." I remember Dr. Hilpert as a nice man who always took the time to say hi to Behlke's kid. I'm very impressed with his full and accomplished life and grateful he chose to work in Alaska.

Jack Bernet

April 23, 2009

I have lost a true friend of half a century. I send my condolences to his family and to his many other friends. May God rest his soul and grant him eternal peace.

Douglas L. Jonas

April 23, 2009

I was glad to inadvertanly see Dr. John Hilpert's obituary in the Seattle Times, because I would not have otherwise known of his status--the last I had known, he was living in Ketchican; however, I was chagrined to realize that he had been living right here in the Seattle area for a number of years, when I would have enjoyed very much meeting with him and renwewing a very important friendship and tutelage.
John Hilpert was the primary professor for a small group of us earning a M.S. in Engineering Management at UAF in 1960-1962. Wonderful teacher, hard working, worked us hard, and a great friend. He agreed to class schedules that fit our availability--Air Force officers with day and night jobs, and many a night with -30degF outside, we labored inside on practical and esoteric principles of management. I am deeply indebted to John Hilpert and the UAF; I literally went from that experience to a career as a management consultant. Crossing paths with John Hilpert was one of the great good fortunes of my life.

Donald & Joyce Martins

April 21, 2009

Joyce and I will always remember John from our time of arrival here in Anchorage in 1982. He was a valued and respected colleague. It was an honor to have known him.

Kenneth Smith

April 20, 2009

“Daddy John”

Oh my gosh, I just received word, from an old college buddy, of the passing of Dr. Hilpert. Perhaps you may wonder where the “Daddy” reference comes from.

I first met Dr. Hilpert during the summer of 1960, at the time I was a commercial bush pilot for a small airline in central Alaska, John was one of my passengers on a scheduled mail run in the Wrangell Mts. He was on some sort of research project for the university. He rode up front with me and we chatted a lot. Good guy that Hilpert. The previous winter I had skipped out on attending school at the U of A in Fairbanks, however that fall I decided to return. When I arrived on campus, late, the men’s dormitories were all full, but arrangements had been made for the overflow across town at Fort Wainwright’s Civilian Barracks (CBQ). I was displeased but had no choice. Checking in at the CBQ, lo and behold, was Dr. Hilpert, the professor in charge of the CBQ. As winter came on it soon became apparent to me that life in the CBQ was much better than on campus. Dr. Hilpert was quite the supervisor, he really watched out for guys, who incidentally were older students; many were working on advanced degrees. His concern for his charges was so sincere and humorous we soon dubbed him “Daddy John”. Like most of the others they had to pry me out of the CBQ; a year and a half later they moved us into the new Lathrop Dorm on campus where John was again placed in charge.

John was an engineer but taught a lot of other courses as well. I was a business major and he was the professor in a number of my classes. An excellent instructor too. Later in my professional life I used to tell my subordinates about an incident with Hilpert. He taught “Human Relations in Business”. In class one time we discussed a problem one huge US manufacture had with their new plant. Employees were bitterly complaining about the work environment being too hot and stuffy. It was a new plant with state of the art air conditioning that worked perfect. Employees were used to the windows being open though and air blowing around. So, someone came up with idea of putting ribbons below all the ceiling air ducts to demonstrate that there was fresh air circulating at a rapid rate. It worked, happy camper labors after that.

We were no more settled in the new Lathrop Dorm than the bellyaching began, you couldn’t open the windows and everybody was suffocating. But, Lathrop had the latest and best fresh air/heat technology going. Daddy John harkened back to the factory's solution. Next thing you knew he was tapping little colored surveyor tape streamers on the vents beneath all our windows. End of story.

Daddy John, I hope you rest in peace; you certainly, have earned it. You will always live on in my memories.

Kenny Smith

Lynne Duncan

April 19, 2009

Permanent guestbook will be at this obituary link. Anyone wishing to send condolences or anecdotes to the family may send them to the eMail link below, or mail them to Lynne (Hilpert) Duncan, 10820 Chain of Rock Street, Eagle River, AK 99577-8169.

Lynne Duncan

April 19, 2009

Permanent guestbook will be at Seattle Times obituary link. Anyone wishing to send condolences or anecdotes to the family may send them to the eMail link below, or mail them to Lynne (Hilpert) Duncan, 10820 Chain of Rock Street, Eagle River, AK 99577-8169.

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