Kidron weather man dies Christmas Day

DGKN ARCHIVE PHOTO

Ronald Hahn checks the standard rain gauge at his house along Kidron Road in 2017. He died on Dec. 25 at age 72 at home.

 

KIDRON  A man who was dedicated to and fascinated with recording local weather patterns died on Christmas Day.

Ronald Hahn, whose grandfather, Harvey Gardner, founded The Kidron News in 1934, continued the legacy of involvement with The Dalton Gazette & Kidron News by submitting monthly weather reports which he recorded from his Kidron Road home. Hahn also continued in his grandfather’s footsteps the one-man printing operation, Gardner Press, which Gardner had begun in the late 1950s.

Hahn died at 72 at home, according to his obituary. He is survived by his wife, Helen, a cousin and an aunt.

Local genealogist Leora Gerber provided some interesting notes about the Hahn family. Ron Hahn’s parents, Ronald Allison Hahn and Alice Elizabeth Gardner were married on Dec. 26, 1945 in Wooster. Ron’s father died as a result of a plane accident while in the service at
Pensacola, Florida on July 16, 1947, she wrote to the Gazette & News. Ron Hahn was born four months later on Nov. 26, 1947. Another interesting note is that Ron Hahn’s address was PO Box 1, Kidron, she told the DGKN.

Hahn, who collected weather data for more than 50 years and was president of the Ohio Weather Library, was known to some as “The Weather Man of Kidron.” Hahn also was a snowfall observer for the National Weather Service in Cleveland.

Hahn will be remembered for his daily run in his golf cart to the Kidron Post Office and on other errands. At a memorial service at Martins Mennonite, several mentioned his profound knowledge of the Bible. Others noted his deep interest in history and his ability to recall historical events in great detail.

Fritz Sprunger, of Orrville, who grew up in Kidron, worked with co-editor Dick Wolf on the “Kidron’s 200^th” anniversary book, “Keepers of the Heritage.” Sprunger deeply immersed himself in the subject of his hometown for nearly two years, and as a representative of the Kidron Community Historical Society, he said he enjoyed his visits with Hahn this past year. He learned much about his extensive collection of “weather-related material” he had brought together over the years. Sprunger said it was also interesting learning about Hahn’s family history. He learned Hahn was born in Massachusetts, and his grandfather, Harvey Gardner, did not grow up in Kidron, but became a fixture in the community after founding The Kidron News.

In an Oct. 4, 2017 story in the Gazette & News, Hahn shared that he had been fascinated with weather since the fifth grade. He was happy to share personal anecdotes about record-breaking snowy days or about taking photos outside during lightning storms. He checked his standard rain gauge outside of his home every day. Every month, he called The Dalton Gazette & Kidron News to supply the previous month’s highs and lows, precipitation, and interesting weather notes.

Hahn put out a monthly Ohio Weather Journal that people could subscribe to and he maintained www.ohioweatherlibrary.org. His website described the mission of the Ohio Weather Library as “a nonprofit corporation for the preservation and dissemination of all forms of weather information for the benefit of school teachers, school children of all ages, weather historians, and anyone who just wants to look into the weather.”