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BIOGRAPHY OF MILO S. KETCHUM
With an unusual display of good judgment, Milo S. Ketchum was born in Denver, Colorado on March 8, 1910. In a month he moved back to Boulder where his father was the Dean of the College of Engineering, University of Colorado. His early years were spent playing in the irrigation ditches on the CU campus and listening to the reports of the War, highlighted by a flue epidemic and the Armistice day celebration. In 1919 he moved the family to Philadelphia and in 1922 to Urbana, Illinois, where his father became, again, Dean of Engineering.
After high school, Mr. Ketchum enrolled in the course in Civil Engineering at the University of Illinois. During this time be developed a passionate interest in Air Ships and even inspected the construction of the USS Akron, under construction in Ohio. This field of engineering soon disappeared with the loss of the U. S. Naval Airships and the Hindenberg.
We find our hero, again in Colorado with the Bureau Reclamation, then in Chicago, and next in 1937 again in Cleveland teaching at the Case Institute of Technology. It was there that he met and married the beautiful, talented, and intelligent, Gretchen Allenbach who became the real brains of the team. In 1944 he moved to Denver, and opened an office for the practice of structural engineering.
His creative career is divided into three phases. (1) The design of steel rigid frames, during which many unusual buildings were constructed, mostly for schools. (2) His concrete shell roof structures period, thanks to the cooperation of his architectural clients. This led to speaking engagements all over the country and a national reputation in this field. (3) In cooperation with this wife, four beautiful and intelligent children, David, Marcia, Matthew and Mark.
In 1962, feeling the desire to explore new territory, he moved to Connecticut to open a branch office of the firm. In 1967, Mr. Ketchum turned the office over to the resident partner, quit work and went to teaching at the University of Connecticut in Storrs. He retired from teaching in 1978 and subsequently moved back to Colorado. Gretchen Allenbach Ketchum died in 1990.
During the course he wrote books and papers, attended national meetings of societies, and managed to accumulate a number of friends with the result that he received the following honors and awards: Honorary Doctorate from the University of Colorado in 1976, The Turner Gold Medal from the American Concrete Institute, Honorary Member of the American Concrete Institute, Honorary Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Member of the National Academy of Engineering.
(Note: The above is absolutely certified to be true because it was written by Milo Ketchum)
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