Kleinsasser is Hillsboro’s man on the mow

ORIGINALLY WRITTEN DON RATZLAFF
Walt Kleinsasser has already retired once and is knocking on the door of his 80th birthday, but he’ll never be the type of senior citizen who sits around in an easy chair and watches the grass grow.

And that’s a very good thing for the city of Hillsboro.

Kleinsasser, in his seventh year as the city’s mower of parks and public grounds, puts in 40-plus hours a week for five to six months of the year to keep the city’s grassy areas clipped and manicured.

“It’s busy all the time,” he said of his summer job. “I’ve got so much area to cover, I don’t get around enough.”

No one has actually tried to figure out how much ground Kleinsasser has to cover, but just reciting the list is enough to tire even a younger man: Memorial Park, Heritage Park, the county fairgrounds, the local airport (40 acres in itself), the Schaeffler House property, Hillsboro Heights, the industrial park, the ditches and entry intersections along U.S. Highway 56, a five-block stretch along the north edge of Third Street, around the city’s water and sewage plants, and several blocks of abandoned railroad right-a-away that run through the city’s mid-section.

“He covers a lot of ground-more than any of us would know,” said Steven Garrett, city administrator and Kleinsasser’s boss. “Every year we’re adding something more…and he’s been able to keep up with it.”

That Kleinsasser is able to cover so much ground-trimming as well as mowing-is a testament to his vigor. The Excel riding mower he drives may have a low gear, but Kleinsasser does not.

“The things Walt does are amazing,” Garrett said. “He sets a pace that few could duplicate.”

For the record, mowing for the city isn’t Kleinsasser’s only job. He also bakes bierocks and serves as host at Olde Towne Restaurant. Prior to that, Kleinsasser was a carry-out at a local grocery store for three years and has helped re-roof numerous houses in the Hillsboro area.

And he developed that resume after he had formally retired in 1988 after almost 30 years on the Tabor College faculty.

Kleinsasser said he developed his insatiable work ethic from his father while growing up on a farm in South Dakota and then California.

“If there was no real work, we’d dig holes and then close them,” he joked. “My father was a hard worker-and I’ve got good genes.”

Kleinsasser said he decided to apply for the city mowing job in 1996 because he was tired of paying full Social Security on his other income.

“If I worked for the city, they’d pay half and I’d pay half, so I went and applied,” Kleinsasser said. “Johnnie Liles was city manager-and he hired me.”

During the growing season, which generally starts in April and lasts well into September, Kleinsasser estimates he puts in around 400 hours on the riding mower.

But mowing is only half the job.

“When I mow, I don’t consider a job done until I trim,” he said. “I don’t like grass growing over the sidewalk or over the curb, so I keep trimming.”

Not every area requires significant trim work, but when he mows Heritage Park, for example, trimming is the biggest task.

“I can (mow) it in less than two hours, and then I trim for about seven (hours) because of the sidewalks, the buildings, the fences, the banks of the pond and everything else,” he said.

Because of his meticulous trim work, Kleinsasser can tell you that the circle drive in Memorial Park is lined with exactly 376 short posts. He runs the trimmer around each one.

Kleinsasser said during one stretch, he ran the trimmer for eight hours a day for four days in a row.

“People can’t understand how I can trim for so many hours,” he said. “Most people say they can’t do it-a couple of hours and they’ve had it. Trimming is the hard part, I guess, but it doesn’t bother me.”

Kleinsasser is fortunate because hot weather doesn’t bother him either-that’s important when you spend long hours under the blistering summer sun.

“I can be on this mower and it can be 100 or better and that doesn’t bother me,” he said.

Kleinsasser does take reasonable precautions, though. He usually applies sun block several times a day, wears gloves on his hands and a $30 cap on his head. The hat is equipped with a drop cloth that covers his ears and the back of his neck.

“Basically, I’m healthy and heat doesn’t bother me-and at the end of summer I have the doctors check me for any precancerous (growths on his exposed skin),” he said. “I’m doing fine.”

But why put up with the long hours, hard work and hot temperatures during the so-called “leisure years”?

“It beats spending a couple of hours in the forenoon and afternoon at coffee break,” Kleinsasser said with a chuckle.

“I need something to do,” he added. “Partly I like to work, and I also like the extra money. It gives me a chance to do things I couldn’t do otherwise-a little travel now and then, or help our kids.”

Kleinsasser also likes the relative time-flexibility the job affords him.

“I’m pretty much my own boss-as long as I get the job done,” he said. “I start when I want to.

“Today, for instance, I’ll work from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. because yesterday I baked bierocks in the forenoon, then took my wife to the doctor in Wichita in the afternoon-so I didn’t mow but two hours yesterday. But this way I can still get the job done.”

And he does it well, by most accounts.

“He’s always on the go, so I don’t catch him often enough to tell him what a good job he does,” Garrett said. “He does do a good job-he’s horribly conscientious.”

Kleinsasser said he can’t be as conscientious as he’d like to be, though.

“What bothers me is the litter,” he said. “The problem is there are so many safety switches (on the mower) that I can’t stop and pick it up-so a cup or a piece of paper becomes a hundred pieces. It bothers me, but all you can do is drive over it.”

Kleinsasser takes pride in the aesthetic appeal of a job well done.

“Especially in spring, when the grass is nice and lush, you mow an area and it really looks nice,” he said. “After it gets hotter and drier, that part kind of fades. But it still looks nice.”

Kleinsasser hopes to mow for the city at least one more year-and possibly more. At any rate, he doesn’t plan on slowing down soon.

“I’ll keep working as long as I can because I can’t imagine sitting around the house,” he said.

Garrett and others have come to expect that kind of dogged determination from him.

“Walt is one of a kind,” Garrett said with a smile. “When they made him, they broke the mold-thank goodness.

“I think Walt deserves more thanks than he gets.”

This article first appeared in the Aug. 29 issue of the Hillsboro Free Press Extra. Charter subscriptions are available for $12.

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