Richard Paul Kramer was born August 15, 1940 in Baltimore, MD. On November 15, 2014, a beautiful and brisk fall day, he fell and broke his back while blowing leaves. Despite his grit, determination, and extraordinary hard work to recover, he died from complications on February 18, 2015. Richard moved with his family to Athens, Alabama, as a high school senior. He co-oped with NASA from 1957-61 while earning a BS degree in Civil Engineering from Auburn and earned membership in honorary Chi Epsilon and Phi Kappa Phi. He completed graduate school at Yale University in 1965 in the Bureau of Highway traffic program. Richard began his professional career as Huntsville’s first Traffic Engineer in June of 1964 as the youngest Department Head ever hired by the city.
He was an instructor at several IT conferences and many of his articles were published in IT journals. He was the originator of the “superstreet” concept of an ideal suburban arterial, presented in the textbook Traffic Engineering by William R. McShane, published by Prentice Hall Polytechnic Series in Transportation.
Kramer was promoted from City Traffic Engineer to Director of Traffic & Parking, then Deputy Director of Public Works, then Director of Transportation, during which period he initiated the Huntsville transit system. He served in that capacity until his retirement in 1991. He was rehired by the City in February 2007 as Director of Traffic Engineering – the oldest Department Head ever hired by the city.
He traveled a long way from sitting on the curb as a child counting cars and observing traffic and made his wife promise to never tell that he would have done his job just for the fun of it without pay. He knew and appreciated that he was at the right place at the right time for his skill set and considered himself to be very fortunate.
He shared a wonderful life with the love-of-his-life and wife, Norma Harwood, for almost thirty years.
He is survived by his sons, Christopher Kramer (Robin), Anthony Kramer, and Ryan Kramer (Carrie); stepchildren, Beverly Dezenberg (Gary), Deborah Self (Mandy), and Rachel Howard (Dominik); and grandchildren and step grandchildren, Jeffrey and Britta Kramer, Kelli Morrow, Amanda Kramer, Maggie Kramer, Lauren Howard and Taylor, Griffin, and Eli Durning.
Visitation will be held from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Friday, February 20 at Laughlin Service Funeral Home. A private graveside service will be held at a later date.
He was so very loved and will be sorely missed. He dearly loved his church community at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Tullahoma, Tennessee. He also shared his life with many rescued animals and requested that in lieu of flowers, memorials be made to A New Leash of Life, P. O. Box 221, Brownsboro, AL 35741.
