Engineer a Leader in State Water Project
By Robert D. Davila, The Sacramento Bee, Calif.
May 17–Gordon W. Dukleth, a career public servant and civil engineer who played a key role in shaping California’s landmark State Water Project, has died at age 88. He died Thursday of complications from health problems, including congestive heart failure, said his wife, Margaret Dukleth of Carmichael.
Mr. Dukleth spent his entire career with the state Department of Water Resources. He started fresh out of college in 1950 as bold plans to build a statewide network of dams, reservoirs and aqueducts for delivering water moved forward. He took an active role in designing and building the State Water Project system, including a lead role on Oroville Dam.
He served as liaison to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, coordinating work on joint federal-state portions of the massive public works project. He also was responsible for dam safety and retired in 1983 as the state water agency’s chief of design and construction.
“So many things were built under him,” said Keith Barrett, a former colleague. “He was a steady fellow, and people got things done under him.”
Mr. Dukleth also was a World War II veteran who served as a crew chief for A-20 and A-26 bombers. He maintained and repaired planes from the 409th Bombardment Group under attack in Europe and was awarded the Bronze Star.
He was born in 1918 in Kalispell, Mont., and raised in a poor but close-knit family on a farm without electricity or indoor plumbing. Invited by relatives, he moved to San Francisco in 1938 and worked for the U.S. Public Health Service on Angel Island and the San Francisco Railway Express Agency.
He joined the Army Air Corps two months before the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, with hopes of learning meteorology. Instead, he was sent to aircraft and engine mechanic school, where he learned to service bomber planes based in England that flew combat missions in France and Germany. He was honorably discharged in 1945.
He graduated in 1950 from the University of California, Berkeley, with a degree in civil engineering and accepted a job with the Department of Water Resources in Sacramento. His work led to several promotions and top assignments – including a liaison position with the Bureau of Reclamation in Denver, where he met and married Margaret Ann Gober in 1963.
In 1964, he became the first head of the department’s new northern district office in Red Bluff. He also was appointed to a panel investigating the failure of a dam at Baldwin Hills Reservoir in Los Angeles.
Mr. Dukleth’s career coincided with a historic period as California invested heavily in infrastructure. He was proud to help bring years of planning for the State Water Project to fruition, colleagues said.
“His role completely changed the face of California by developing water so that it could be used statewide,” said Ernie James, former water resources chief of civil engineering design. “He and I and many other engineers came to the department because we saw it as the greatest thing we could ever be involved with.”
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Gordon W. Dukleth Born: May 8, 1918
Died: May 11, 2006
Remembered for: Civil engineer with a major role in design and construction of the State Water Project; served as a crew chief for bomber planes during World War II
Survived by: Wife, Margaret Dukleth of Carmichael; sons, Tom Dukleth of New York City and Don Dukleth of Auberry; sister, Margaret Espe of Portland, Ore.
Memorial services: Visitation, 4-8 p.m. today and Thursday, memorial at 10 a.m. Friday, East Lawn Mortuary, 5757 Greenback Lane, Sacramento
Remembrances: Donations may be made to Pulmonary Rehab, Sutter General Hospital, 2801 L St., Sacramento, CA 95816.
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Copyright (c) 2006, The Sacramento Bee, Calif.
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