Harry W. Gobler
1938-2020
Nancy Bingham remembering Harry, her Deputy on the 12 Foot PWT Project
Harry Gobler was more than my deputy on the 12 Foot PWT Project, he was my friend. I didn’t know Harry before the Project. Our orbits just came together when I was assigned Project Manager and he was assigned Deputy Project Manager. We spent some time getting to know one another. As it turned out we both brought unique skills to the job and united we created a strong management team. I was better able to manage the bureaucratic ins and outs ( which he hated) and he was better able to manage the complexities of the design and integration.
Together we managed a wonderful group of engineers, aerodynamicists and project support people that were the heart of the project.
There are many stories I could recount of our times on the Project, both good and bad that demonstrated the competence and caring of Harry. He was a quick study, a sly planner, and a formidable negotiator. He had a sense of humor. Early in the project we spent some time creating the official logo for the project. After we finalized it, Harry presented the Branch version of the project logo. As you can see they are quite different!
One day I came in to find this on my desk from Harry. It did sometimes feel like we were going to be working the 12 Foot PWT project together for life.
I would like to tell you about something unusual we experienced together. In 1989, Harry and I were finishing up a meeting in the office. By 5:00 we were the only ones left still working. A little after 5 a 6.9 earthquake struck knocking a bookcase and water dispenser to the floor around us. Once everything stopped shaking, we checked the rest of the building for damage. Harry always took public transport to work and now he was stuck. I offered to drive him home. We spent a couple hours crawling with traffic up Highway 280 over uplifts and cracks in the pavement and over overpasses that were questionable. As we drove we talked about life and death, about love and family, about work and about friendship. It was a significant conversation! After I dropped him off I made my way back home for another couple hours but I will always remember that conversation. The next day Harry was at work bright and early spearheading a structural evaluation of the buildings at Ames.
I feel honored that I had the opportunity to work with Harry and to be able to call him my friend. He is a part of who I am.
Mike Ospring remembering working with Harry
Click on the document cover to see a story that Mike wrote in 2010 - "a lot of good Harry stories in here." [ASK Magazine, Issue 37, Winter 2010]
Harry had more influence on my professional life than anyone else. Although I had several outstanding mentors (including Dan B), Harry was always the one who took me aside for those life corrections that change who you are as a person.
From the first day I met him, when he hired in on the NFAC project in the early 1980’s, he took an interest in growing me as a person. He hadn’t been at Ames for two weeks when I met with a bunch of senior people from a consulting firm. He was basically in the same cubicle and after they all left, Harry asked me, “Do you want to know what just happened?”. Of course I said yes and then he explained how they had manipulated me into exactly what they wanted.
Many years later, in Orlando FL, we were together at a large meeting with Westinghouse engineers (15-20 people in a conference room) when he sat right next to me and kept kicking me if I tried to talk. He kept me in check all day, until we stood up at 5 pm to break for the evening. After we stood up and I had distance from Harry, I started a fight with their project engineer regarding a large change order on our $10M project. Harry was distraught because he had kept me quiet all day. On the ride to the restaurant for dinner, he said ,”Why couldn’t you keep quiet for 5 more minutes?” To which I answered, “You let me get up and couldn’t kick me anymore”.
But the best story of all, one that totally shows Harry’s outstanding leadership, was when we went over to the Unitary project after we finished the 12 Foot project. Harry asked me to come with him. He said, “Just make the facility run, I will cover you. You will not have to go to any meetings above my head.” Then one day John Perry and I adjusted two relief valves in a large oil tank, and I was in the tank basically in my skivvies (or less), we got caught by the safety boss. She walked into the mechanical room and demanded that we explain what we were doing, and to get out of the room immediately. I told her we could not do that. Needless to say, Harry ended up with all the blame. True to his word, I never got called into the meetings where he (and probably Dan B as well) took a beating. When he asked me why I did it, I said, “You told us to make it run, that is what we were doing”. To which he replied, “Why didn’t you ask me?”. I said, “What would you have said?”. He said he would not have allowed us into the tank to make such an adjustment. I told him, “That’s why we didn’t ask”. His most famous reply of all, to which I swear is what he said (Harry, please correct me if I got this wrong): “I really love you guys, but sometimes you make me crazy!!!”. Not sure if there were expletives, but I’m thinking yes, there might have been a couple.
I could go on forever. My mind wanders. I love Harry with all my heart, he was a best friend, mentor, father, guide, and rock for me over the course of nearly my entire career at Ames. I so miss him. Thank you for sharing him with all of us.
Tim Marshall recalling his first Thanksgiving in California
Too many blessings from Harry to count.
One of the sweetest though, was my first Thanksgiving in CA. Harry insisted that my kids and I join him and Laurie for the holiday. He got Disney videos for the kids to watch and invited me into the kitchen to see the master at work. Having grown up in the restaurant business, Harry knew his way around the kitchen. He and Laurie lovingly prepared a great feast for us, and made us feel so special and so loved. It was about that time that my one year assignment to ARC was coming to a close, and it may even have been on the ride home that my oldest daughter, sensing the love of this great man for us, surprised me with this request, that as you know, became our history – “Dad, can we just stay?”
Laura Doty recalling her and Harry's shared love of horses
We adopted Regal Bob after he was hurt during a race at the Pleasanton fairgrounds. Injured race horses are usually put down, but a friend of ours (who bred and trained race horses) knew Regal Bob quite well, and thought that he could become a good horse for my daughter once his tendons had healed. So we brought him home, and over time, he healed beautifully. This photo was of Regal Bob’s last win, and when I told Harry that we had adopted a retired racehorse, he was pretty excited and told me stories about wanting to be a jockey.
When Harry decided to retire from Ames, I brought Regal Bob’s winning photo into work and Joe Hurlbut worked his photoshop magic on it, replacing the jockey’s head with Harry’s head, and adding Harry’s name and initials to the photo. I presented the photo to Harry at his retirement dinner; he commented that his lifetime dream of being a jockey had finally come true!
Ken Kono recalling:
Harry Gobler, my mentor/teacher, my former supervisor, my friend,
my brother-in-law, engineer extraordinaire, and divine intervention
In 1979, Harry was the Civil/Structural Section Chief at an engineering company in San Francisco where he managed the work of 20 Civil/Structural engineers and draft persons, a quarter of whom were young "fresh-outs" like myself. Harry wanted to help us get our careers started on the right path so he took it upon himself to mentor and teach us. I remember Harry's "lunchtime seminars".
One of the projects I was assigned to work on was design of 2 low-head hydroelectric plants near the Salton Sea, a highly active seismic zone. Standard engineering design criteria required use of the 1979 Uniform Building Code (UBC). The geotechnical report showed that the sites for the two hydroelectric plants had sandy soil to 100-foot depths. Harry therefore directed us to depart from the UBC and instead develop a site-specific seismic response spectrum, a design aid graph for calculating the maximum horizontal force a structure must resist during an earthquake. This design approach exceeded the standard UBC factor by 20%. In addition, Harry required us to account for a vertical acceleration factor which was not mentioned or required by the UBC. The projects were completed in 1983 at a cost 20% higher than the client had initially budgeted.
The client sued, alleging "over-design. By that time, Harry and I were at NASA. During the course of giving our depositions, two events occurred:
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On October 1, 1987, there was a 5.9 magnitude earthquake in Whitter, CA.
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On November 23, 1987, a 6.2 magnitude earthquake occurred near the Salton Sea.
Technical press reported that the seismic accelerations measured from these two earthquakes would require engineers to consider changes to the UBC, in part to account for vertical accelerations of up to 1.0 Gs in some areas. This is precisely the risk that Harry accounted for when he developed our design criteria 7 years earlier. Shortly after these earthquakes, our former client withdrew the lawsuit.
A case of divine intervention? I believe Harry was vindicated by the highest authority!
Excerpt from a letter to Laurie from George & Gretchen Williams
Excerpt from a letter to Harry from Lucy Perry
You are such an inspiration to so many. I love hearing all the “Harry” stories. I’ve garnered such high respect for your business practices and ethics. You have such a great following of engineers that will follow in your footsteps! Reflect and rejoice on all the wonderful experiences you have had in life and know just how highly loved and respected you are. The real estate you stand on is highly valued! You have done a great job and left a great trail for others to follow. Please know how much John and I love and admire you! You are a true hero and icon in our hearts! Take good care my friend. Just wanted to say hello and let you know how loved you are!
I cannot possibly express or describe how much of a positive influence Harry had on my short career at NASA/Ames. I can say that if you worked for Harry Gobler, you knew that he had your back ... always ... and that he'd keep the political wolves at the door. He allowed you the opportunity to do your job and to do it well.
One of my fondest memories was being able to do a little electrical 'side job' for you and Harry when you both lived in San Mateo. When he asked my opinion on how he should have the new spa serviced with electrical power, I volunteered to do the work and he took me up on the offer. I couldn't have been more thrilled knowing that my boss thought enough of my skill for me to come to his home and do a little work for him and you. For me, it was the highest of compliments that I could have been paid and still remember it with a smile and sense of pride.
I remember well the first time I met Harry. It was part of the interview process with Kaiser at the 12' PWT project and I was being introduced to the NASA Engineering Management staff. My recollection of the intro was how unassuming Harry was during the entire discussion. I don't remember it being a difficult meeting simply because Harry made it seem like two guys having a great conversation about 'things' ... especially Baseball !!! Who knew!!