Harry Klepp

In a word of a Nat King Cole song he loved, Harry Klepp was unforgettable. Estonian by birth, and American by choice, Harry was a visionary electrical engineer and inventor, devoted father, grandfather, great grandfather, husband, brother, uncle, and friend. He loved giving "kalli-kallis" (hugs) (and often Hershey's kisses) to all those he met, walking in the woods marveling at "God's creation," having deep conversations, and fixing broken things. His friends called him a "people magnet." After an eventful, productive life, he passed away on April 29, 2025 at the age of 92. He is deeply missed.
The son of Peeter and Triin Klepp, Harry was born in 1932 on the Estonian island of Saaremaa. The brother of sisters Milde (Robert Green) and Maie (Aadu Raudsepp), he spent his childhood in a small village on Sõrve Peninsula tending sheep, taking apart mechanical devices to figure out how they worked, and teasing his older sisters. As invading Soviet and Nazi forces battled over Sõrve, he and his family were forced in November 1944 to leave Estonia and work on a farm in Nazi-annexed Sudetenland (today's Czech Republic). Soviet forces overran the area, taking his father as the family tried to reach the American Zone. He, his mother, and sisters lived for four years in displaced persons camps in Germany before Seabrook Farms in Upper Deerfield Township, New Jersey, sponsored them in 1949 as refugee workers. There, Harry learned to fix radios and televisions, learned English, and graduated from high school in 1951.
Harry served in the U.S. Air Force 1952-1956 as a Sergeant, working as a radio and radar repairman, including maintaining microwave communication links for NATO in France during the Korean War. In Buffalo, New York, he worked for Wurlitzer and Bell Aircraft in the X-15 program building telemetry electronics and attended night school at University of Buffalo. He transferred to Tri-State University in Angola, Indiana, earning his engineering degree in 1960, after which he worked in Buffalo at GTE-Sylvania until 1962 on the B-58 Hustler and RB-69 bomber electronic countermeasures radar systems. In 1962, he started working at IBM in Poughkeepsie, from which he retired in 1989 after submitting 20 patent applications. In 1990, he went back to newly re-independent Estonia, first as part of the International Executive Service Corps to teach at Tallinn Technical University and many times thereafter. He worked as an electronics consultant until his death because he could "feel" electricity and work to him felt like play.
He married Beverly (Ellis) in 1963, with whom he had four children, Deborah, Peter (Nathalie), David, and Jeannette (Louis Riverso), whom he called his "biggest blessings." He was devoted to his ten grandchildren: Sarah, Matthew (Carmen Lechler), Jennifer, Connor, Joseph, Ava, Nathan, Michelle, Lucas, and Caroline, each of whom he took to Estonia to appreciate their heritage. He delighted in his three great grandchildren: Cadence, Maeve and Silas, and great grandson Slevin, who predeceased him. He also loved his nieces and nephews: Anne (Douglas Hardy), Paul Raudsepp (Jennifer), Eva (Alar Ruutopold), Sandra Rice, Erika Bajars (Marty Coyne), and their families. The day he moved to Poughkeepsie in 1962, Valdar and Milja Sellendi, the Presidents of the Mid-Hudson Estonian Association, "adopted" him, giving him "sisters" Leen (Stephen Gould) and Katri McEwen, and "children" Rob McEwen and Aileen (Birkitt) and their families. In 1997, he married the late Helle Rakfeldt Leetmaa, gaining stepsons: Andres, Matti, and Ivo, and her parents Ilmar and Miralda Rakfeldt, sister Tiia (James Hughes), and brother Jaak (Kristi) and their families. He also played an important role in the lives of his godchildren, including Altti Piirsoo, and his children's friends.
Harry had a sparkle about him where he made everyone feel special. His greatest legacy will be his humor, charm, and faith in Jesus, the source of the love he gave all those around him. Now that Harry is no longer with us in person, but in Spirit, he would want us to receive His love directly. In the words of "Pass It On," another favorite song, "That's how it is with God's love, Once you've experienced it, You spread His love to ev'ryone, You want to pass it on." Kalli-Kalli to all who knew and loved him.
A celebration of life service will be held on Saturday, August 2 from 2:00-4:00 p.m. at McHoul Funeral Home, Inc., 895 Route 82, Hopewell Junction, NY 12533.