Hugh E. Klein passed away peacefully on April 21, at Rivercrest Skilled Nursing in Concord. He was 97.
Born on June 11, 1925, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, he was the son of the late Blanche Thackery and Charles Klein. Hugh or Hughie, as his friends and family often referred to him, graduated from Tulsa Central High School in 1942. He attended Purdue University in 1942, where he was a member of the golf team, Delta Upsilon Fraternity, but most memorable to him was meeting his adoring soon to be wife Mary Katherine(K) Caudell. They married in 1949 in Evansville, Indiana. He served in the U.S. Navy in 1944, while still at Purdue University. After several reassignments with the navy, he landed in San Diego working as an electrical engineer on a destroyer escort until he was discharged in 1946.
He graduated from Purdue in 1946 with a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering, and began working at Union Carbide where he spent his entire career in industrial chemical sales, retiring in 1981.
Hugh and Mary K. relocated frequently with Union Carbide, living in St. Louis, Kansas City, Chappaqua, New York, Wilmette, Illinois, and finally back to Chappaqua where they raised their four children at One The Lane from 1962-1998. They moved to Somers in 1998 and during this time, his true love Mary K. passed away after a long battle with cancer. In 2010, he moved to Newbury Court, a retirement home in Concord, to spend the remainder of his life close to his loving daughter Katie Wilson.
In 1988, he built a second home in Danby, Vermont to be close to friends and to golf at the Dorset Field Club. Mary K. and Hugh enjoyed cross country skiing at Merck Forest, picking strawberries, attending fourth of July celebrations and entertaining family and friends. Hugh loved Vermont, its natural rural beauty and all the outdoor activities it has to offer and he loved sharing it with family and friends.
He was a prolific reader, beginning each day with The New York Times crossword puzzle. However, he had many passions; he was an avid golfer, loved racquet sports, vegetable gardening, was very active at the First Congregational church in Chappaqua, a member of the New Castle Historical Society and the Chappaqua Garden Club. He deeply loved his family and his eight grandchildren. He enjoyed cracking jokes around the dinner table and eating oysters. But most importantly, he lived his life with the utmost integrity and highest moral principles. He will be remembered by many as a true gentleman.
Survivors include his sister Beverly Patterson of Tulsa, Oklahoma, sons Philip (Ronna) of Raleigh, North Carolina, Hugh (Kristin) of Ross, California and daughter Katie Wilson (Lindsy) of Concord, and his beloved eight grandchildren. He is predeceased by his brothers Charles of Wickenburg, Arizona, and Robert of Grove, Oklahoma\K, wife Mary K. Caudell Klein and son Charlie of Bellevue, Idaho.
A private service will be held on June 23, 2023 at the First Congregational Church of Chappaqua, where he will be buried alongside his wife Mary K.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Hugh’s memory to either the First Congregational Church of Chappaqua, 210 Orchard Ridge Road, Chappaqua, NY 10514 or Rivercrest Skilled Nursing, c/o New England Deaconess Association, 80 Deaconess Road, Concord, MA 01742.
Arrangements are entrusted to Dee Funeral Home & Cremation Service of Concord. To share a remembrance or to offer a condolence in his online guestbook, please visit www.DeeFuneralHome.com.
