I have been asked about the music chosen for our slideshow.

All of it is solo guitar by Chet Atkins, but the first song has special meaning to me.

It is “Bring Me Sunshine” by Arthur Kent and Sylvia Dee, and I know it from the Morecambe & Wise version.

Bring me Sunshine, in your smile,
Bring me Laughter, all the while,
In this world where we live, there should be more happiness,
So much joy you can give, to each brand new bright tomorrow,

Make me happy, through the years,
Never bring me, any tears,
Let your arms be as warm as the sun from up above,
Bring me fun, bring me sunshine, bring me love.

Bring me Sunshine, in your eyes,
Bring me rainbows, from the skies,
Life’s too short to be spent having anything but fun,
We can be so content, if we gather little sunbeams,

Be light-hearted, all day long,
Keep me singing, happy songs,
Let your arms be as warm as the sun from up above,
Bring me fun, bring me sunshine, bring me love.

That’s Nicholas.

A Remembrance and Celebration for the Life and Accomplishments of

Nicholas Klompas

 November 20, 2012, 6:00 PM

St. Luke’s On The Hill,
Mechanicville NY

The righteous man walks in his integrity; his children are blessed after him.
Proverbs 20:7 NKJV

Nicholas Klompas was born on December 13, 1924 in Andrew Alberta, to Metro Klompas and Zonia Radomsky Klompas. The third of five children (John, Bill, Nick, Peter, Angie), he was the first to go to university, graduating in 1947 from the University of British Columbia in Engineering.

Being offered a place at Orenda in Toronto, he was on the design team of the Iroquois Engine for the Avro Arrow, Canada’s state-of-the-art jet fighter.

With the cancellation of the Arrow, Nicholas took his Bride, Bernice Humphreys, and his three children, Paul William, Kathryn Elena and Mark Edward to the US.  He worked at Continental in Detroit, Pratt and Whitney in Hartford, Curtis Wright in New Jersey, General Electric in Lynn and Schenectady, and ended his career at Williams in Detroit in 1990.

Nicholas continued his engineering passion well into retirement, presenting papers at ASME Turbo Expo from 2001-2004 and continuing to offer his views into 2011.

Nicholas’ delight was his family.  Mark and Linda were married and have five children together Rebecca, Danielle, Matthew, Jonathan and Madison.

Nicholas and Bernice would often travel during their retirement, everywhere from Moscow to Morocco to Mexico.

After a fall from a mobility scooter on June 19, 2012, Nicholas was challenged with a broken back.  He worked hard to come home to his beloved wife, but an infection from the hospital was eventually insurmountable.  He died with his family around him on November 13, 2012.

In 2004, there was a Radomsky reunion for Wasie (Radomsky) Kulka, who was celebrating her 85 birthday.

Nicholas’ mother Zonia was a Radomsky, and Nicholas was very proud of the Radomsky tradition of scholarship and giving.

We collected the some photographs and other documents and put them together into a website, which only stayed on line for a year or so, though CDs were given to family members.

Here is a copy of that eight year old website, warts and all.

http://klompas.com/radomsky

And here is a great photograph of Zonia’s family: our own Nick Klompas on the top left, his brothers Bill,  John and Peter, his father Metro, his mother  Zonia and sister Angie.

I will always be close to my dad when in nature,  I like this image of connection and the safety of being nestled in a nurturing space. And I will feel the warmth of his sparkling eyes when I see sunshine is water.

He encouraged me to see the world and move thru it with my own creative energy.

In the end, Nicholas beat the prostate cancer that took his brothers.  Bill and Pete died at age 64, and his brother John died earlier than that, so Nicholas’ death a month shy of his 88th birthday was exceptional.

I know he would want to share his story about this.

A LINK BETWEEN PROSTATE CANCER AND THYROXIN LEVEL: A PERSONAL STORY

Nicholas was a brilliant engineer, who continued struggling to understand complex problems long after he retired.

In 2008, he needed a biography for a presentation.

This is what we came up with:

Throughout his career, Nick has sought physics-based explanation of puzzling observations & unexplained failures, in the tradition of Whittle.

Graduating from the University of British Columbia, he joined a team of young engineers at the Hawker Siddley Group in Canada who had received training at Whittle’s company, Power Jets. Nick’s initial learning consisted of studying Stodola’s textbook and poring over Von Ohain’s jet engine drawings. He advanced to responsibility for the hot end of the Iroquois engine developed to power the Avro Arrow, including pioneering a two-bearing HP, two-shaft turbojet configuration.

Upon the cancellation of the Avro Arrow, Nick progressed through the US aeroengine industry, delivering innovative designs at companies like Pratt & Whitney, General Electric and Williams International.  Knowing that the challenges of advancing design concepts required new insight into engine vibrations, he continued his education at UMICH, RPI and NYU, earning two master’s degrees in engineering mechanics (RPI and NYU).

Connecting the shattering of a fan rig drum shaft in 1966 with an unexplained problem of the Iroquois experience, he derived the physics of coupling between bladed disk flexing and elliptical engine whirling, which he published at first opportunity, in 1974.

Now in retirement, Nick works to create & disseminate physical interpretation and cohesive (whole-engine) solution of long overlooked, but currently surfacing as critical, vibration mechanisms. In this work, he aims to show that guidance of design by clever use of current analytical & experimental tools would reduce risks in future engines and might help to ensure safe operation of engines fielded with generic design flaws.

 

“I’m a dreamer.   I always have my own mind.  No devices, just dreams.”

Nicholas Klompas, 30 July 2011

Nicholas Klompas died at age 87 on Tuesday November 13 with his family around him.

Nicholas was born on an Alberta farm and made his way to designing jet engines, including the Orenda Iroquois for the Avro Arrow.

His loving spirit is carried on by his wife Bernice, his three children and five grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at St Luke’s in Mechanicville NY on Tuesday November 20.

Nic’s old website is here: http://klompas.com/klompas.com