As the hour struck, Cooper spoke. “The Klipsch Museum of Audio History is very proud to be able to commemorate Paul Wilbur Klipsch, whom we all know and love. If you don't know him, you need to know him, because he was a cool dude. From everything I've heard from everybody who knew him, he was a really cool dude,” she said.
“He would add ‘Wilbur with a u,’” Klipsch Museum curator Jim Hunter chimed in.
Cooper named and thanked several attendees, including Hunter, who she credited for starting the yearly Klipsch Birthday Bash celebrations in 2016, City Director Mark Ross has been on the Klipsch Museum Board for six years.
The presentation of the wreath at the Klipsch vault starts a two-day observance of his birthday, March 9th 1904, when the world-famous sound engineer was born in Elkhart, Indiana. After service at the U.S. Army Proving grounds just north of Hope as an officer testing artillery shells, the New Mexico State and Stanford-educated engineer started the company bearing his name which manufactures speakers well-known for their accuracy. This Sunday, Paul Klipsch, who died at age 98, would have turned 121.
“In his time with us, he did remarkable, incredible things,” Cooper continued. “He has been known as a genius, an eccentric, a prankster. From everything that I've heard about him, he loved a good joke, and he loved to pull the good joke. I believe that he is very proud of what Jim and the other founding members started here in 2016, because our mission is to take care of his artifacts, to take care of his documents, to take care of his legacy, to make it available for research purposes and to use music and his science of sound to encourage STEAM education, science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics.”
After the wreath was placed, everyone gathered at the Klipsch Museum Visitors’ Center on 403 West Division for a dinner of barbecue pork, coleslaw, mac and cheese and much more. Then at 7:00 p.m. came the Annual Membership Meeting in the center, with Hunter presenting the curator’s report and an election held to make Michael Fragnito a member of the Museum Association board. Glenn Mosby said a genealogy of Paul Klipsch will be provided to Hunter within 30 days. Ross said he would be embarking on a membership drive.
Those wishing to join the Klipsch Museum Association can do so by going to the website the following QR code takes you to.
Then the rest of the evening was spent with former and current Klipsch employees, their family members and other visitors enjoying the pilgrimage that is the theme of this year’s birthday bash. Many conversations took place around the picnic tables outside and a fire pit, but several also got going around the historic Klipsch speaker systems throughout the Visitor Center.
Tomorrow’s activities include a class taught by Klipsch Head Engineer Roy Delgado Jr. starting at 9:00 a.m. at the Klipsch Lab which is in the factory at 137 Hempstead 278. At 6:00 p.m. Delgado will be serving his famous fajitas at the Museum Visitor Center and diners will be favored with performances by the Pepaw Collective followed by LB and The RiffRaff.
