Arnie Honkamp

TH: What line of work were your parents were in?
AH: My dad was a pressman. He had a stint with the TH. Ended up at the Pauly Printing Co., down on Fourth and Main. He was part owner in that until it closed. My dad didn't graduate from high school; I think he went through ninth grade. His great-grandfather emigrated from Germany.

TH: What about your mother?
AH: Her father was born in Germany and came to the States at a very early age. My mother was the oldest of 11 children. My father was the oldest of eight. My mother had to drop out of school in the second grade to help support the family. As a result, her reading and writing skills were not developed, unfortunately. They were both very hard-working people. She was a maid in various homes around the Dubuque area.

TH: What were the circumstances of your birth?

Arnie Honkamp Age: 66 Occupation: Managing partner, Honkamp Krueger & Co.; president and chief executive officer, Honkamp Krueger Financial Services Co.; vice president, Kidder Benefits Consulting Co. Family: Son of the late Arnold and Catherine Honkamp. Husband of Joyce. Father of Amy (Patrick) Greener, of Dubuque; Jill (Rick) Hageman, of Neenah, Wis.; Nicholas (Sue) Honkamp, of Madison, Wis.; and the late Heidi (Jeff) Honkamp-Myhre. Grandfather of six. Education: Loras College, emphasis in accounting, 1963. University of Iowa, bachelor's degree in marketing, 1962. Loras Academy Class of 1958. Professional associations: American Institute of CPAs, Iowa Society of CPAs. Current community leadership: Empowerment Board, State of Iowa and Dubuque County. Mount Calvary Cemetery Board. Major prior community leadership: Dubuque Jaycees. Dubuque Racing Association. Dubuque Area Chamber of Commerce. Dubuque Airport Commission. Major honors: Junior Achievement Tri-State Business Hall of Fame (2004). Iowa Governor's Award (2005) for early childhood care and education. Telegraph Herald First Citizen Award (shared in 1985, individual in 1987). Jaycees: Outstanding Local President (1972); National Junior Chamber International Senator Award (1972), Boss of the Year (1982).

AH: My father, having gone through the Depression and hard times - he too had to work in high school. At recess he did varying tasks to provide for the family. He was not in favor of a large family. There were only three of us. When I was 8, we lost my little brother. The irony of that is we lost a child, too. We're hoping that that doesn't go on to the next generation. I grew up in a loving family. My mother and father both encouraged me to pursue an education. I was the first one on my mother's side to actually graduate from college. The thing that really always stood out to me was their tremendous work ethic. I think that's perhaps part of the environment they grew up in, as well as I think some of that is a result of the German background.

TH: Looking back on your childhood, what were you like as a kid?
AH: I was a - I hate to use the word, but I was probably undisciplined to a large degree and left to do my thing. And I did. I can recall getting into a lot of mischief from the time I was 3 years old. Extremely mischievous little boy. I was a very mischievous child all the way through high school and college. Raised a lot of proverbial hell.

TH: Is there anything in particular you want to own up to at this point?
AH: I could tell you...we would do some very - beyond mischievous. We used to - I mean it was somewhat dangerous. We used to, every morning, this was in high school, we grew up in Center Place, right behind the Visitation. Right at the corner of West 11th and Walnut was a grocery store on the northwest corner. We would go in there on the way to school, Loras Academy, and then on the way back. We were not good to the owners. We were very mischievous to the owners of that store. Really took advantage of them. The irony of what I'm telling you is, you know, Bill Callahan from DB&T - his parents owned that for a while. Her name was Helen; she just died in the last week or two. I had to go to the wake because I remember her so vividly and the trouble we caused them. We did her tax returns, as a matter of fact, and she passed on the stories to her children and they reminded me of them. We would do, as early high school kids, we would do tricks like - they weren't, I'm not proud of them - we would get a bag of dog dirt, and we would put it in a bag and put it on a front step and light it and then we'd hide in the bushes and watch the owner come out of the house and stomp on it. Of course, we got big kicks out of that. I can remember behind Nativity, they would have big barrels of trash. We would roll those across the street to the neighbor's. We would put it on the front porch of the neighbor and ring the doorbell and we would be across the street ha-ha-hawing. We would climb up of the roof of Visitation. That was a two- or three-story building. We would throw snowballs and other objects at cars. Of course, they'd stop and we would be up on that building and we'd kind of taunt them. I mean, there was no way they could get us. There was no way they could catch us because we had exit routes planned, etc., etc. In high school, when we needed gasoline, we used to siphon it out of cars. I can remember vividly siphoning it out of a tank of a car and all of a sudden two heads popped up in the back seat of this car, and it was a guy and a gal. Plus, siphoning, you ended up with a little gas in your mouth, which was not a pleasant taste.

TH: And gas at the time was about 18 cents a gallon?
AH: Oh, it was extremely cheap, but we didn't have any money. We used to pick up cigarette butts off the streets and take the unused tobacco and roll our own. We always had exit strategies. I can remember, one of the routes was, if we were in the Center Place neighborhood, was to lead whoever was chasing us through yards and one of the yards. It was between two houses and the yard had a drop-off, probably of five feet. It was a wall. It was pitch dark. We operated some of our mischievous acts at night. We would lead somebody through those two houses and we knew where the drop-off was and we would ease our way down and we'd go about 100 yards and watch the poor devils almost kill themselves as they ran through the yard and all of a sudden drop down five feet. We were very mischievous.

TH: You were a bad guy.
AH: Well, I hate to use the word bad. But we were extremely mischievous and into things. I had no hours. I can remember, especially in high school, if we were out on weekends, I could come home at any hour of the night or early mornings. My father was always in bed because he got up early to work and my mother, every single time, no matter, when I was out, whenever I came home, she was in the kitchen, in the rocking chair, with beads in hand. I can still visualize it. She never, ever chastised me for the hour. She would always give me a hug and a big smile. She was just glad to see me back. She would protect me from my dad because my dad was a staunch disciplinarian, but my mother would hide from him all of my nuisances that I'd created. In fact, I can remember one time I got picked up for speeding. Of course, my mother knew about it. We cut out the articles - that's when they posted speeding violations in the paper. My mother and I cut it out and then my dad was in his rocking chair, reading the paper, and went right through the cutout, never asked why. My mother and I were sitting behind him, wondering what was going to happen next. I had a sister that was four years older than I. One time, a bunch of us had a scheme that when she and her friends pulled up in front of the house, the first thing we were going to do was through water balloons at them. There were three or four of us. Then we were going to be close to them so they could see us, then we were going to lead them along side our house to the back yard and we had a hose set up and one of us had to run into the house as they were coming and turn the water on. We had a couple of other traps set up along the house. It all worked to perfection. And the curse words. And they knew who it was, but they couldn't catch us. I was the one in the house who had to turn on the water. I think they figured out there was somebody in the house. My mother protected us! She said, "No, he isn't here. He isn't here." And she knew. She knew. We used to play...I could kee p you occupied for an hour because I have such vivid memories of them.

TH: Was there a culminating incident that really changed that, where you matured or you cut that stuff out?
AH: I was probably of that nature all the way through college, through graduation at the University of Iowa. And probably the first year or two of my marriage. Although when we got married, I did settle down, and at Loras. That final year, 1962-63, I had a 4-point. But prior to that, it was marginal, at best. But I did graduate. But I started to settle down as a result of being married and accepting that responsibility that came with it. My wife would tell you it was beyond that before I got over what John Wall always referred to as Jack Ass Hill. It was a few years after that I finally matured and got serious about where I was going.

TH: Where did you and Joyce meet?
AH: Joyce's older sister, she grew up in Menominee, Illinois, her older sister married my first cousin, who lived in Menominee also. Joyce and I were partners in the wedding. At the time, I was dating at least one other gal. Eventually, I ended up with her and she's been a Godsend. Without her and her support, I can tell you, I wouldn't be half as successful as we've had the good fortune to be.

TH: You mentioned several jobs in high school and college.
AH: As a matter of fact, I had three or four paper routes at one time. Back then, believe it or not, carrying papers for the Telegraph Herald was the plumb job.

TH: Hey, it still is.
AH: I understand, but they were very difficult to get back then. Almost impossible.

TH: Almost like a franchise.
AH: Exactly. Very difficult. I ended up with two. I can't remember how I got them.

TH: Did you have to break kneecaps to do that?
AH: No. But the TH found out about it and I lost one. Back then, we got our daily papers delivered to the neighborhood area. But on Sunday, we had to walk down to the TH every Sunday morning. We'd get up at 3:30 in the morning, walk down to the TH, pick up our papers, lug them back up the hill, deliver them. And then there were a couple of us that had - call it the franchise - to sell papers after church at all the Masses at Nativity. I had a Des Moines route, also, and a Buyers Guide route. The Buyers Guide was a weekly shopper that my dad's Pauly Printing Company produced. I was very involved in working summers, etc. And early on, I determined that I had to get a college education because what I was experiencing was not something that I wanted to continue. But I realized after high school, I didn't think I was mature enough. I didn't take education seriously, to be perfectly honest. Still full of the proverbial pee and vinegar. I wanted to go in the service. My mother really, really, really objected. S eriously. And I loved my mother dearly and I respected that, so I went to college. Went two years to Loras, two years to the University of Iowa. My degree from the University of Iowa is in marketing. When I graduated, I decided marketing wasn't what I wanted to pursue. I got married shortly after graduation. Came back to Dubuque; went to Loras for a year, picked up the rest of the accounting courses that I needed, and that was how I ended up starting the accounting career.

TH: What other jobs did you hold?
AH: One which helped me immensely and still helps me in the development process, the maturity process I was working nights, 11 to 7 at Dubuque County Nursing Home. I can recall changing diapers on people. I mean, it left a tremendous impact. It was almost the same impact as the religious - especially the nuns - had on me in growing up, in spite of how mischievous I was, even in spite of the discipline that they put on me, including swatting me on occasion, which I always deserved and never, ever told my parents about. After Dubuque County Nursing Home, I went to work for Flexsteel. I was in their Accounting Department. Back then, in '63, I think there were only three of us in the Accounting Department. Then they were thinking of getting into data processing. They wanted me to head that up. Well, my accounting instructor at Loras, Bob Pommerich, talked me into going into public accounting. I got hired on with a regional firm in Cedar Rapids. Joyce and I were reflecting on that - I can't remember why - th e other night. With my grades - at least my first four years of grades - I didn't qualify. How I got hired, I really don't know. I must have interviewed well or they were hard up for a body or something, but I got hired on. Stayed there for five years. I had advanced nicely, there were some nice opportunities, but I wanted to see what the other side of the world was like. I decided to leave without a job, even though I think we had a child or two at the time, at least one. My thinking was I either had to move further away from Dubuque or back to Dubuque, because being in Cedar Rapids, even though it's a great community, we loved it, we were home all the weekends because that's where our family and friends were. Compared to the highway system we have in place now, it was just night and day. Almost every weekend, we came home. Well, as fate would have it - and this is unbelievable in my mind, especially now that I'm a grandparent. How that decision was made to come back to Dubuque is still remarkable to me. It had to be the hand of God involved in it because I had job offers further away and I had some job offers in Dubuque and finally decided to come back to Dubuque. That was one of the better decisions I ever made in my life - for no other reason than, you know we had four children, and those were the only grandchildren my mother and father had. I want to tell you, I can still see the enjoyment that those grandchildren provided for my parents. Since then, I've had tremendous benefits in being here, but that was the very first one. Well, I bummed around. I worked for Aladdin. I was their controller from '68 to '72. I went there because one of my goals was I wanted to get into a business where I could have not only management but ownership opportunities. But after a short period of time, I could see that it was a two-family business. Both Dick Ludwig and Dale Launspach had a lot of children and the opportunities for me that just wasn't going to work. Both Dick and Dale were very active in Jaycees, and that was o ne of my first involvements in community activities in Dubuque and it was the result of Dick Ludwig and Dale Launspach's encouragement. I stayed there (Aladdin) for four years, realizing probably in Year 3 that things weren't going to satisfy my goals and objectives. But I was president of the local Jaycees back then and stayed on through that. I have to tell you. I had the wild idea ... we had three children and my wife is a nurse. She was working part-time when the kids ... she didn't work when the kids were born, but after they got a little older and were in school or whatever, she would work part-time. I was very involved in the local Jaycees, local president. Fabulous, fabulous experience. I treasure it to this day. I got so enamored with Jaycees that after I served as president - back then you had to get out of Jaycees when you were 35 - I wanted to go on to become national president. I had it all mapped out. I went home to explain it to Joyce. I was really fired up and told her that she was going to h ave to go back to work full-time, even though we had three kids, because I wanted to be on the road and be national president of the Jaycees. Well, it was a very brief, short conversation and obviously, I didn't embark on that. When I left Aladdin, I hired on with Ed Babka. It was a wonderful experience. Ed taught me a lot. He is the entrepreneurial entrepreneurialist of anybody that I really know. A wonderful human being. Plus, he flew airplanes and I love to fly airplanes, so I got to do some of that with him. But that was a short stint because I saw an opportunity with the John Law Co. It just happened to end up being in accounting, which I obviously had a good background in. The thought I had in mind was the three existing partners, John and two others, were aging out. One day, I literally knocked on their door - the office was on the southeast corner of the Julien Dubuque Bridge approach then - and said, "What are you guys doing for succession planning?" They said, "Funny you should ask." Well, to make a long story short, in 1973, I went to work for them, but we had already arranged that in '74, I would take over the ownership of the company. That came to pass. Back then, we probably had a staff of 15 or so people. We were primarily doing monthly accounting work for small- to medium-size businesses. John got into data processing to process the monthly financial statements for businesses. We did a little tax return. It was a decent-size data processing shop and one of the first ones in Dubuque, Iowa. John Law is no longer with us, but he was a great mentor. In fact, we developed such a strong relationship, to keep him aboard, I sold back to him a very small interest in the company. He kept that for a long, long time and continued to consult and mentor in the process. He taught me so much about the community. He really encouraged me, because John was very active in the community as well. So I had that background and then that push from him. But I've been very fortunate. I can remember the day in 1976 when Al Krueger came to work for me. I needed somebody like him desperately. I think that's been the key to our success. One is the people in the organization; the people that are on our management team today; their entrepreneurialship; their instincts; the values, etc. In my estimation, without question, that is why we have continued to grow and continued to be successful.

TH: What is your employment number now?
AH: We have three different business divisions. One is the CPA firm and we have a total of five offices in northeast Iowa and southwest Wisconsin. On the CPA side, we probably have upwards of about 175 employees. Then we have two other entities. One is the financial services. We probably have 35ish in that. They're in the building that adjoins us here to the north. Then we have a qualified employee benefit company in Des Moines and they probably employ in the low 30s. So we're probably, in total, 225ish, right in that area.

TH: From a management standpoint, what are the particular challenges of managing growth?
AH: First of all, you've got to be able to take risks. You have to understand and get a good feel for what the needs of your clients are. Then you have to have the people that are going to execute your game plan. We've always been very sensitive to the needs of our clients. We continue to expand and add services because we have done the due diligence and the marketing to understand that this is a need that our clients need if they're going to continue to be successful; then we believe we can make a part of the growth and development of our firm.

TH: This interview is going to appear within a week of the April 15 tax deadline. We're sitting here in an office with walls full of books related to taxes. About this time of year, we hear about the idea of a flat tax, where you can fill out your tax return on the back of a post card and mail it in. Do you ever see that happening?
AH: Not in my lifetime. Should it happen or should some different taxing system be in place? Even though it would impact us, I believe it should. But I just don't see it - with politics being as they are - in my lifetime, certainly.

TH: If could change one aspect of the tax system or the tax code, what might it be?
AH: I'd probably go to a consumption tax. The reason being, with exemptions for people and certain categories at least of taxable areas and items. In addition to the complicatedness and the cost involved and certainly the complexity in the understanding, or lack thereof, of people that have to file returns, there's also the element of uncollected taxes. There's also the element of unreported income that never gets taxed. And that's not right. Some type of a consumption tax, I think, would cure that to a significant degree. There's literally billions and billions of dollars estimated on an annual basis that is not taxable. As well as the system that we now have in place, in addition to the complexity, it's political. There's billions and billions of dollars of uncollected taxes. Well, the IRS gears up to go after collecting that and then the human outcry goes to the politicians who say, "These IRS agents are abusive, they're too harsh, etc.," so that Congress cuts back their funding and says, "We have to be a kinder and gentler system here." And I understand that. But then there isn't enough enforcement that is necessary when you have a system like we have. It costs our government substantial sums of money, some of which - I hope we get to talk about, my latest passion, and that is children 0 to 5. We could, from that alone, fund what is needed there, give children, all children, the opportunity to be successful. But it would have an economic impact as well, because I think instead of having to grow prisons, we could cut back on prisons. That is another factor that always comes into play when you're dealing with human services. They're one of the first ones to get cut, and in my estimation, should be the last.

TH: You were among the charter members of the Dubuque Racing Association, and a few months ago the dog track passed the 20th anniversary.
AH: We had a 20-year reunion and everybody came back. That was just a delight.

TH: So we've had 20 years and change now with the dog track. We have table games at the dog track now. We've got a boat. We've got lottery. We've got these TouchPlay machines, at least for a little while longer. What's your take on the impact on the level of gambling in Iowa and in the Dubuque community. Is all this OK? Is this good?
AH: That's an excellent question and it's one that's very tough for me because, A, I'm a gambler and I take risks in business - but I don't gamble at gambling facilities or wage bets. That's not something that has ever interested me. As a matter of fact, I'd never been to a racetrack until we were looking to build one in Dubuque and we ventured out and visited a track. I'm not a strong supporter of a lot of gambling. Prior to them issuing more licensing, I thought we had enough in the state. Certainly some of my friends probably would disagree with me, but that's just my own personal opinion. Experiencing the TouchPlay machines. For the first time, I was in a bar in Dubuque and ran into it and I was just stunned at the similarity between that and a slot machine. Certainly opposed to that, without question, I just think that's going way, way too far. We've got enough gambling. It's been fantastic for Dubuque, for the city, for charities. But it pains me for people that get addicted. But those addictions a re going to occur and they occur in other areas as well. We put forth monies out of the gambling revenues that go to the state to support those that need help in this area. I can remember when we were up for renewal several years ago on our license and had that referendum. I led that referendum, co-chaired it with Mel Maas, and I'm glad I did. I was proud to do that, but one of the things I found out is that the state had raided a lot of those monies that were meant to help people who had a problem. That just shouldn't occur. That's wrong. We need to help people, whatever their problems are because I think we are each other's brother's keeper. I'm pained by people that either get addicted to it and what they may do to the rest of their family, etc. That is bothersome to me, without a question. I guess, in the end, you hope that we take care of those people and that the overall benefit and good outweighs that negative. I hope that's the case.

TH: Pretty soon after you got the dog track open, you were leading the charge on commercial air service in Dubuque. United Express, was it, that we were going to lose?
AH: Yeah. We lost United. As a matter of fact, in '85, we lost, if you'll remember American Central Airlines.

TH: That was just before I got here.
AH: That was a terrible loss. If that company, in my opinion, had been properly managed, they would be here. We would have the best air service of any city our size and we would have an operation that would employ literally hundreds of people. I was on the Airport Commission when they left. That was a poorly managed company. They had, I believe, back then, 36 slots into O'Hare, when O'Hare was a slot-controlled field. I can remember getting a group of business leaders together and I fought in bankruptcy court trying to keep those in Dubuque - and lost. I mean, if you ever wanted to see the Big Boys come after Little Old Guys from Dubuque. I mean the airline people. They wanted those slots and they wanted them back. They were not going to let me or anybody from Dubuque get in their way, and they were successful in getting them back. But we literally lost all air service. That was a project and an undertaking that was very difficult and time-consuming. To make a long story short, we put together a committe e called SOS, Save Our Slots, and we were able to unite this community. I happened to have the good fortune of leading that group. We were able to unite this community from the average person on the street to all the business community. We had a letter-writing campaign. I can remember vividly taking all of those petitions, literally, to Washington, D.C., and parking those in our congressional representative's office, who was Tom Tauke at the time. Tom Tauke was very, very helpful. I spent a lot of time in D.C., roaming the halls of Congress, working with the DOT then. To make a long story short, we ended up teaming up with American in our proposal. They were willing to come into Dubuque if we got the slots. And that was no easy task. Tom Tauke was extremely, extremely helpful in helping us get those. Then we had the good foresight - it had never been done before, we got the slots named under the name of City of Dubuque, so that if we were ever going to lose American, they could not take the slots with them.

TH: Is that still the case?
AH: No, because Chicago is not a slot-controlled field. But it was for a long, long time.

TH: But the commission was neck-deep in that.
AH: Back then, and it's still true today, we would pick who would be on the commission because wanted the right people politically to make this airport vibrant. And we were successful in doing that. Prior to 9/11, we had three carriers with about 15, 16 flights a day. When that happened, things went to hell quickly, obviously. But prior to that, Paul Frommelt was on there. Dennis Houlihan. He represented the Democrat side. Great contacts with Harkin. I developed a good relationship with Grassley's staff. And, of course, Nussle was there; I was helpful to him in his early campaign. So we were able to develop some strong political ties. And I've got to tell you, and it's still true today, the airline industry and politics are quite closely intertwined. We were able to politically establish strong relationships politically that have been helpful up to this day from the standpoint of our having air service. We've got a great relationship with American Airlines, from top to bottom. That's been extremely helpf ul because we are a city the size of, which puts us in a very, very precarious situation from the standpoint of maintaining air service. I would like to see them be more marketing oriented. Enplanements are out there, but the marketing side of that is a never-ending process. It just has to go on on a regular basis. And we've got to pay for that. And secondly, we've got to come up with things that will attract them. It's almost like economic development, where you've got to provide incentives for them to be here.

TH: When you're saying "we," you're talking about....
AH: This community. Obviously, the city is an important factor. I think we need to get the county involved and maybe even going to a taxing authority. In my own mind, I've been in favor of looking seriously into that because in my opinion, air service is so economically important to this community. I mean, you see it all the time with new businesses that locate here.

TH: How do you see it playing out for commercial air service in Dubuque, given the competition out there? Moline. Cedar Rapids. Airlines are continuing to struggle. What do you foresee for Dubuque?
AH: Well, we're always going to be in a very precarious position. That's why we've got to step up and do more marketing. I'm an advocate of a full-time marketing director for the airport. We're going to have to come up with continued and increased incentive package because that's the name of the game today, unfortunately. Thirdly, we have to continue to maintain our strong political ties with these airlines because it is, as I've said, a political arena. Without those three ingredients, I think we're always going to be vulnerable to losing our air service. If we lose that, and we could tomorrow, quite frankly, it's going to impact us negatively tremendously, in my opinion, economically here in this community.

TH: I guess the question I wanted...
AH: Let me just say one thing, hold your question. Something that I'm also very proud of. I was named First Citizen by the Telegraph Herald. We also got one for the dog track. Those were very proud moments in my life from the standpoint of being recognized as First Citizen. That award is still treasured deeply in my heart.

TH: I remember that. Two years out of three, actually, with Catherine Dunn in between.
AH: I'm sorry, I interrupted you.

TH: No, no, anytime a TH award is going to be mentioned, I'll stop.

TH: Another area of community involvement. You have been recognized for some of your work in early childhood education. Dubuque Empowerment Board?
AH: Correct.

TH: This isn't dog tracks, this isn't airplanes, suddenly this is little kids. How did you get hooked up with this?
AH: You know, God works in unbelievable ways. And I really think there are His hands in that because I can't really explain it any other way. We were at a relative get-together. My sister-in-law, who was working part-time at Prescott School, was telling me about what goes on in their early childhood programs down there and the unbelievable problems that these children bring to that school. I just didn't realize that. I was absolutely flabbergasted and dumbfounded beyond belief. So I decided to do some investigation. I made some contacts with DHS (Department of Human Services) people and started attending meetings and finding out more and more. I got hooked. To make a long story short, through study, I've come to realize how important early childhood education is. With both spouses in families working and out of the home, with more and more single-parent families, it even becomes more important. You realize that 85 percent of a child's brain is formed by the time they're 5 and we don't start formal educat ion until 5. And the children that don't have access to good day care or infant care now because of their economic situation is wrong. All the people in the social service arena amused by me, because they know I'm a Republican and they say, "You sound like a Democrat more and more." It's not a political Republican or Democratic issue. It's an issue of service to mankind, taking care of your brother. My passion has become we have to continue to work to start the early childhood education process even pre-natal so that when children enter kindergarten, they have the best opportunity to be successful. And boy, do we have a long way to go. This has become an overwhelming passion of mine. But I can tell you, because I'm not a very patient person, this whole process moves so unbelievably slow that I'm not so sure that it's going to be where I'd like it to be in my lifetime. With that in mind, I've embarked on segmenting this whole process of early childhood education. And by the way, there are foreign countries th at start formal education at age 3. All we do is argue about it. We give it lip service on both sides and we say we have to do this and that. I know we have to take care of elementary and secondary education, but if a child doesn't have an opportunity, isn't developed by the time they get to kindergarten, that's going to seriously impact their growth and development because some of those windows close and they don't get opened up and that child is at an unfair disadvantage. That's wrong. That is morally wrong in my mind. If you need another reason, I've always said, it's economic development because all the research and studies that have been put forward say that for every dollar invested in early childhood education has a payback of $5 to $7 in later years. I'll get into any business if I can have a payback within five years - any, just tell me what it is. These are our children, the future of our society and we don't recognize and deal with that. We've got the wherewithal to do that. It escapes me why we c an't properly deal with it. We've got to educate everybody first. We're setting out to do that. I hope with my involvement at the state level really put some pressure on these areas. What I've done in my little mind is I've segmented at least what's going on in Dubuque. We've got a small group together that really are looking at infant and childcare. And my goal is before I hang it up is that infant and childcare is available for everybody in this community. I feel so strongly. We can do it. We can do it, without question. Every child has that opportunity in this community, no matter what their background, economic means, etc. In my opinion, if we're able to do that, we won't have to have economic incentives to track people here. We can eliminate worry about where our employees are going to come from and that's a concern we have to deal with in this business. Bringing qualified employees from this community and outside to our company because they leave. If we do some of the things that I'm thinking of in ear ly childhood, Dubuque is they're going to flood here. They're going to want to be here. There's an old saying. It came from the guy above: "If you take care of the least of my brethren " And this is what it's all about, we'll have people flocking here. We should do it anyway because it's morally right and it's good economic sense.

TH: I want to switch gears, but I know it's still painful for you. As your parents experienced the loss of a child, you, too, experienced the loss of your daughter, Heidi. It's been a few years now, but how did that experience and that personal tragedy affect you as a person?
AH: Well, it really had a tremendous impact. When things of that magnitude happen, something as sensitive as a life, boy, you stop to reflect. I'll tell you, the worry within our family was, because prior to that I'm not a very demonstrative, emotional type person. I am more so now, I can tell you. That's one of the impacts that that left me with. What often happens in these cases, that family breaks up. Just the opposite with us. It made our family closer. It made me much more sensitive to the needs and wants and the relationships within our family. It really has had a tremendous impact on me from an emotional standpoint and a demonstrative standpoint with not only my family, but with other people. The tremendous importance and value of human life and how short it really is. Boy, when it hits home like this, that's tough, it's really tough.

TH: Folks will see this interview and we'll have photos and you've got the "cue ball" look, which I'm working on myself. But that's a conscious decision on your part. AH: Yeah, for the most part. Yeah, Heidi had a recurrence of her cancer and she didn't lose her hair the first time. The second time, she lost it. In spite of all the suffering she went through and treatment and radiation, etc., and what it did to her body, the loss of hair to that young lady was more devastating. I can remember vividly. I got the idea. She was coming home, she was living in Minneapolis. I got the idea that I would help her through this torturous time so I go my head shaved. I met her at the front door. I just kept it that way in memory of Heidi. I think about her every day.

TH: Spare time: Do you have any?
AH: Yeah, I do. I've been grounded. Flying is a passion of mine, it still is. I love airports. I could sit in airports all day long and watch air traffic control operate and planes come and go. I flew for 25-plus years. Thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a great diversion for me, as well as a great enjoyment. It got us over to South Bend and Notre Dame games a lot quicker than driving. I got grounded two years ago. I was having hernia surgery and they found an irregular heartbeat in me. I'm in the process of trying to get cleared by the FAA, which is no simple task. I like to play golf. I spend more time with my family. We've got six grandchildren. I used to make fun of our friends that had grandchildren before us, who used to roll out the pictures, etc. I literally made fun of them. But I tell you, having those grandchildren is an enjoyment that, until you get them, you just don't know the fun that is and the enjoyment that that brings to your life. I spend more time with my family. I spend more time with them. But I love work. I guess it's the environment that I was raised in and the background and the ancestry that is a part of that. I thoroughly enjoy work. TH: Well, you're 66, so you're in that retirement zone. You asked the partners in the firm several years ago about succession planning. What is your plan?
AH: That will come soon, without question. When that occurs, and it will occur soon, I may have a role here to play. If not, I'm going to look to continue to be active in the community. I hope to still stay active in that which I truly have a passion for and love and that's the early childhood. And devote some of my other talents, if I have time, to other charitable organizations in Dubuque and be a continued part of my activities in giving back to this wonderful community that's been so good to me.

TH: You say soon, you're not saying by the time this interview runs?
AH: No, I'll be around for a little while, but there comes that time and I recognize it. Even though I enjoy what I do and look forward to coming out here when I'm in town, I'm here almost minimal six days a week and some nights. I've got a lot of other interests that I partake in than what's on the resume, but those are other ventures that I get involved in. But I still love it, but there comes that time. I recognize it and I'll be able, without question, when that comes, I'll handle it because that's the kind of guy I am. I enjoy what I've experienced, but I'm able to move on. Quite frankly, that's what helped me through Heidi. I think about her every day, but I don't allow myself to dwell too much on that because you have to move on. And that's the way most aspects of life are, you know? You've got to be able to deal with the good things and bad things. There's not many lives that don't have some form of tragedy in their life. I've been fortunate in being able to handle it through the grace of God and still move on. And I'll do that with retirement as well, I'm sure.