Dear Editor:

Although I have had a casual relationship with Marty Klein for many years I cannot say that I really knew anything about him until the last two years. Prior to that I had been a customer at his golf range and had engaged in neighborly conversation about our town.

As I became more concerned about some of Killingworth's growing problems, I got to know Marty better. I have found him to be quite the opposite of what someone's first impression of him might be.

I have heard others describe Marty as brusque, hidebound -- even dismissive. I know Marty to be a man of great compassion and consideration whose well of interest and concern for others seems to have no bottom. I have found him to be a real problem solver who is still eager to learn wherever knowledge is offered because he knows it is only through understanding that problems are solved. Marty has little patience with those who beat the proverbial horse that is down. He is more interested in learning something that will get the horse back on its feet.

Marty has volunteered his unflagging energy and expertise for more than 50 years in the U.S. and abroad. His commitment to making a difference has spanned his entire adult life. The list of places where he has helped solved problems that impeded progress in improving the lives of people is staggering: from Bolivar County, Mississippi to Kyrgystan. Yet, there is no boast to his speech or manner. Marty Klein is not perfect: he is humble to a fault. That rare quality proves to me that he is more interested in making a difference than in taking credit for it. I think we can all benefit from having such a person in town hall.

By the way, Marty and his wife, Barbara, managed to raise four children who all passed through our school system and have maintained a home in this town for over 40 years.

I hope that you will vote for Marty Klein on election day. However, if you do not I hope that you have learned something about what you are voting against: a lifetime of admirable achievement and a rare human sensibility in the service of others.

Raymond Celmer
Killingworth