Bob Haefner

by Lynne Ober

Bob and his wife, Lynn, have been Hudson residents for twenty-eight years. Bob and Lynn last October celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary. Bob is a tall, soft-spoken man. He’s one of Hudson’s many volunteers and readily shares his expertise to make Hudson a better place.

He’s originally from New Jersey. “I grew up in a small town with one school that housed grades Kindergarten through eight. When I went to high school, I rode a public bus to the next town, which was about three miles.” Bob continued his education until he’d earned a Master’s Degree in Management.

The Haefner’s have three adult daughters. “One lives with us and the other two are in town,” Bob reports. “Our only grandchild also lives with us, but another’s on the way.” Bob’s grandson attends Hudson Memorial School and will go to England this summer as part of the Student Ambassador program.

Completing the Haefner household are two cats and one dog. Altogether it makes for a lively and interesting household.

Bob works for Hewlett-Packard where he is Planning and Operations Manager. “I do business planning and process management. My group is very reactive. We frequently work on parts issues. Sometimes we have unplanned parts and other times we need parts and have to find a way to deliver them same day for customer down situations. It’s interesting,” he notes. He also has technical responsibility for a West Coast group who is responsible for reusing materials. “We provide training and technical support,” Bob said.

As a member of Hudson’s Budget Committee Bob’s applies his cost center management skills to town budgets. “I’d really like to see the tax rate stabilize or even go down,” he comments. Bob has suggested a committee project to develop metrics to measure overhead and is actively working on that with current Budget Committee Chairman Howard Dilworth. “I hope we have something that both town boards can use next year during their budget deliberations,” he remarks.

Bob loves to travel. “We’ve been to nine foreign countries and forty-one states,” he recalls. “We try to take a trip somewhere every year.” Among their travels have been five trips to Australia. “My mother married an Australian and moved there,” Bob said. “We got to see a lot of the country when we visited. My mother stayed in Australia after her husband died and was buried there when she died.”

Bob was recently appointed to his second term on the Conservation Committee. “I’m a little to the right of most of those folks. I’m a bit more conservative.” Explaining that he cares about the environment, clean air and clean water to drink, he points out that he likes to walk in the woods and “forty years from now I want my grandkids to be able to do the same thing. We need to find a balance between the protecting the environment, protecting the rights of property owners and protecting the taxpayers.”

Bob took piano lessons as a child and then didn’t play for years. “One day my wife and I were out and we passed a music store that had a used organ for sale. I went in and bought it. I played that organ until it died. Then I got an electronic keyboard.” Music is very important to his life. He also plays the harmonica and the ukulele – both of which he’s played for four years.

Bob became interested in the weather and weather patterns as a Boy Scout and today he has a weather station in his home. “I’m a real weather buff. I enjoy the weather and I’ve kept written records for eight years.” His equipment not only registers current weather conditions, but also captures high and low temperatures for a 24-hour period, wind direction and wind speed, humidity and precipitation.

Over a year ago one of his nephews asked if Bob would perform the wedding ceremony at his upcoming wedding. Bob contacted the Secretary of State’s office and learned about becoming a Justice of the Peace. “I got the application; let them do the criminal background check, paid my fifty dollars and was able to perform the wedding ceremony,” he happily recounts. Since then he’s officiated at a number of other weddings.

Community Questions:

HLN: What’s your vision for Hudson?

Haefner: “I’d like to see the escalation in property tax taper off. Taxes keep going up. We’ve got a good school system, but more parents need to get involved in their children’s education. Too many people think it’s all up to the schools. I’d also like to see growth in Hudson controlled. We’ve grown so much.”

HLN: If you could ask a Selectman a question, what would it be?

Haefner: “I’d like to know why Town Hall isn’t open one night a week or one Saturday a month. Lots of people work. I’d like to see the Selectmen acknowledge that we need some alternative hours for Town Services.”