Richard V. Kesseli

HOLDEN - Richard V. Kesseli, 96, passed away on Monday, April 26, 2021. Born in Worcester Massachusetts, September 20, 1924 Parents: Anton G. Kesseli, Inez Miles Bourn Kesseli

Wife: Betty Barnett Kesseli.

Children: Kathryn K. Guimard, Richard V. Kesseli Jr., James B. Kesseli, Grandchildren: eight, Great-grandchildren: nine

Dad’s life:

Richard (“Dick’) grew up in Sutton MA on a small farm. His father was a mason turned building supply owner (Kesseli & Morse Co.). As a child, Dick complained about having to do farm chores, including the daily care of the chickens. He had a dog named Barney, who lived in the barn. One summer he had a job mowing the town green using the family’s un-motorized push-mower. He underbid three brothers (one named “Fud”) who lived closer to the town green. The task was made more arduous in that he had to transport the heavy mower in a wheelbarrow up the steep hill, else it would kick up stones and dull the blades.

In Sutton, he completed school through the 7th grade at the two-room General Rufus Putnam School. Finished the 8th grade and 1st year of high school at Sutton High. He commuted the sophomore year at South High School, Worcester and spent the final two years at Mount Hermon School in Gill MA. Mount Hermon required sports so he went out for track and hockey. He excelled in academics, graduating Cum Laude in June 1942.

At age 17, with the war raging, he elected to enter an accelerated officer training program at Yale in June 1942. It was a 2.5-year full-year undergraduate program to prepare him as a Navel engineering. There, he was roused out of bed every morning at 0500 for calisthenics and a jog around the campus. He studied chemical engineering, but enjoyed many classes from distinguished professors in literature and history and remained a life-long history buff and avid reader. He also made life-long friends, including his suite-mates in the very preppy Yale residences. One of the favorite family stories involved a roommate who kept an illicit bottle of whiskey cleverly hidden on a hook high up in the suite’s fireplace. He took extra safety precautions to detect any consumption by turning the capped bottle over and marking a discrete line with a grease pencil at the liquid level. This seemed to work until one Saturday where the students realized that the whiskey was virtually all water. The theft was eventually traced to their maid, (we did say that this was preppy) who after every swig refilled the bottle with water.

Upon graduation from Yale in February 1945 with B.E. (Chemical Engineering) Class of 1945W (for War) he was sent by the Navy to the Premidshipman School at Princeton University. After that program, he was then sent to the Naval Reserve Midshipman School at the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland. He was commissioned ‘an officer and a gentleman’ (Ensign Line Officer in Engineering) on August 26, 1945. It took only five days for this news to reach Japan, whereupon they promptly surrendered (he relayed this story to his children and their children as often as possible). Subsequently, he attended naval steam engine training at Newport Rhode Island, receiving a certificate in Sept. 1945. He was then assigned as a Division Officer to the U.S.S. Columbus CA74. He impressed his commanding officer by creating detailed schematics of the boiler/engine room. His job was to monitor the Chicago Boilers and keep all systems ship-shape. Starting October 1945 his tour of duty included Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, through the Panama Canal to Panama City to Pearl Harbor to Tsing Tau China, to Shanghai, Taiwan, Yokosuka Bay, and Sasebo Japan. With the rank of Ensign, he carried a Colt 45. We are sure he cut an imposing figure at 6’1’, 140 lb. In Panama for a stint, he had the dubious responsibility of guarding the largest bordello in the Western hemisphere. He was ordered to roust out all of the enlisted men at 0600, often firing his gun in the air. In the Pacific theater, late 1945, his ship escorted Chiang Kai-shek to the Republic of China (Taiwan), then occupied by Japan. Later in Japan, he picked up that .23-rifle. (we were told that this was so the Japanese could shoot our .22 ammo, but we couldn’t shoot theirs). We’ve all heard the story that on his way back from the Pacific theater, he passed over the International Date Line celebrating New Year’s Day twice.

After his commission, he returned to San Pedro Base California (San Diego) in May 1946, aboard the U.S.S Columbus. He separated as Lieutenant J.G. in July 1946. He was given various offers as to how to receive his 2-years of salary. He elected to take it as a lump sum in cash. He filled a money belt given to him by his mother with the enormous sum of $3700 and set out on the train for Worcester. It took roughly a week to cross the country in those days, with the tensest time walking between train stations in Chicago late at night.

He took his first engineering job as a chemical engineer in September 1946 with the New Jersey Zinc Co. at Palmerton Pa. He worked on electroplating. He did this for about two years, before going back to school to receive an MS in Chemical Engineering at Columbia University. He graduated in late 1949 awarded the MSCE degree class of 1950. He then began working as an electrochemist at Kodak Corp in Rochester NY. During that year he attended a party in White Plains NY at the home of a Yale classmate. The mother of the Yaley made an effort to invite some eligible women in the area, which included Betty Barnett. Betty and Dick began dating shortly thereafter. Dick would make the 6+ hour drive from Rochester to White Plains every Friday evening, arriving after midnight. They were married on October 22, 1949. At the time, Dick was living in a boarding house, managed by a lady who cooked and cleaned for ‘the boys’. After the marriage, Dick and Betty moved to Rochester for the first time, to live in a ‘nice tenement’. Betty was pregnant with their first child in March 1951, when they left Rochester (and Kodak) to return to Worcester. Dick was lured back by his father to take a position with Kesseli & Morse Co, as Engineer and Salesman. In 1961, upon the death of his father, Dick assumed responsibilities of treasurer and later CEO, and retired in 1996. Dick and Betty initially lived in Worcester for the birth of Katheryn Kesseli in July 1951. They moved to Shrewsbury St. in Holden for the birth of their two sons, Richard Vernon Kesseli, Jr and James Barnett Kesseli. In 1957 they moved to the home build for the family on Wyndhurst Drive in Holden and lived there for 61 years.

Dick Kesseli was very active in the Worcester community. His community service included; Director and member Young Businessmen's Association, Men’s South Worcester Team Captain Community Chest, Director Central Mass Employers Association, President and Director Worcester Better Business Bureau, President and Director Friendly House, Vice President and Director Central Mass Chapter of Professional Engine, Director Associated General Contractor of Massachusetts, Director and Member of Executive Committee Peoples Savings Bank until Sale, Trustee Bricklayers Local 6 Annuity Fund, Trustee Massachusetts Carpenter Training Center, Vice President and Director Goddard/ Homestead, Inc. His professional affiliations include; Sigma Xi Honorary Science and Engineering Research Society, Registered Professional Engineer (Massachusetts), and Construction Supervisors License.

He was a contributing member of the Worcester Club, the Yale Alumni Association, and the Columbia Alumni Association. He returned to Yale most years for Homecoming and rarely missed attending the annual Yale-Harvard football game. Dick enjoyed hiking with his close friend Dave Buckley, toping many of the White Mountains. He also skied into his 90th year.
Dick Kesseli is survived by his wife, Betty Barnett Kesseli, his two sons, and his many grand, and great-grandchildren.

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