History of Club

Remembering the Past

It is the HPREC Historian’s responsibility to acquire and curate the collective institutional memories of its members. Information can be in the form of memos, pictures, interviews and presentations. A presentation was prepared and presented at our annual Holiday Luncheon in 2009 to commemorate our 30th anniversary of being a formal non-profit organization, a social Club celebrating our histories and friendships at our legacy companies.

In 2019, we celebrated our 40th year as a Club by providing company logo gifts to Picnic and Holiday Luncheon attendees, as well as looking back to old newsletters and sharing articles in each 2019 issue.

This page on our website was created to capture some of our Club’s past for your reading enjoyment, as well as the following five HP History pages offer additional pages housing products, memorabilia, a timeline, information, and personal profiles.

If you have any documents or recollections that you believe should be preserved for the enjoyment of the Club’s membership, please contact the Historian at historian@hpretirees.org.

By Gary Ruppel (Historian)

The Hewlett-Packard Retired Employees’ Club (HPREC) was formally founded on April 4, 1979 by Fred Andersen, as a non-profit organization. Fred had recently retired from HP Associates. Fred, along with his wife, Ruth, owned a travel agency in the area. The first meeting, held earlier in the year at Mac’s Tea Room in Los Altos was attended by Fred, Frank Cavier, John and Stella Terry, Elsie Yearian, and Ray Rooney. Ray became HPREC’s first elected president in 1980, when the Club had about 60 members. Since Ray’s induction, there have been at least twenty-five presidents serving terms of one to four years.

From left to right: Gary Ruppel, Fred Andersen, Alice McChesney (representing her late husband, Lew),

Gladys Anenson, Bob Kalsey, Al Bagley, Bill Wolfinbarger, Jim Cole, Jerry Priestley, Don Higgins, and Stan McCarthy

At the Club’s Holiday Luncheon in 2009, we celebrated our 30th anniversary as a Club, with nine of the former presidents, plus then current president Stan McCarthy. They were introduced to the attendees by Gary Ruppel, our Club’s Historian. Fred addressed the group recalling his desire to create a club which would provide opportunities for retirees to socialize, maintain friendships, and to enjoy travel and various activities together. He certainly succeeded!

Presidents have included (not in order or a complete list): Fred Andersen, Lew McChesney, Roger Cowger, Phil Tuttle, Gladys Anenson, Clark Smith, Jack Goodwin, Elaine Cook, Ed King, Bruce Wholey, Don Carmean, Dick Miller, Gary Ruppel, Bob Kalsey, Al Bagley, Bill Wolfinbarger, Jim Cole, Ted Blomquist, Gerry Priestley, Don Higgins, Stan McCarthy, Martha Maris, Deihleen Claffey, John McGowan and Bernard Bruand.

If anyone notices if a name is missing, please alert Carol Nakamoto, who will see that the list is updated.

Naming the Club produced some interesting inputs, such as:

H-P Postgraduates
H-P R.A.H.S. (Retired and Happy Seniors)
H-P Maturatier
H-P H.O.P (Happy Old Pensioners)
H-P Happy Has Beens
H-P Gadabouts

Fortunately a more simplified and less controversial name prevailed!

Fred’s effort to form a retiree club was preceded in time (1976) by HP’s Personnel Department. However, the effort did not gain much traction due to the fact that there were only 200 retirees worldwide at the time and only 80 resided in the Bay Area. It was surmised that, with the anticipated growth in the Company, a retiree club might become feasible in 5-10 years. Fred “beat them to the punch” by a minimum of three years! Shortly after the Club was formed, HP established a way for Club members to interact with their former employer by providing tour guides for New Employee Orientation. Twelve retirees volunteered for this effort in early 1980.

The Club rapidly swung into action by hosting a luncheon in June 1979 in which then CEO, John Young, gave a presentation. The next event scheduled for September 1979 was a trip to HP’s Santa Rosa Division. Many events soon followed, with excursions to San Francisco, Hearst Castle via the Coast Starlight, and a barbeque luncheon at San Felipe Ranch (owned by Dave and Bill) south of San Jose. More activities became “regulars”, including the annual Holiday Luncheon, the Spring Fling, and the Summer Picnic. Monthly activities of hiking, drop-in lunches, occasional Zoom sessions with guest speakers from the companies (golf, bridge and bowling (no longer active), all followed. The HP/Agilent Retiree Volunteer group formally joined HPREC in 2004. The volunteer organization had run independently for ten years.

We celebrated our 40^th anniversary in 2019 at our Picnic and Holiday Luncheon, where we handed out to event attendees specially designed gym bag and umbrella logo items showcasing each company.

The Club has been “supported” by HP, HPE, Agilent and Keysight via occasional guest speakers, door prizes. HP continues to support a dedicated website for retiree benefits, discounts and news.

HPREC membership peaked at about 2300 in the early 2000’s. Changes in privacy laws in that same timeframe didn’t allow HP to continue providing contact information on retiring employees for the Club’s follow-up, so we had to begin relying on word-of-mouth. The demographics of HP, HPE, Agilent and Keysight retirees have changed dramatically given reductions in force and early retirements.

In 2023, we lowered our length of service minimum from 10 years to 5 years, in hopes of attracting more members. Eligibility to join is not dependent on the retiree status of the former employee to their company.

Members continue to enjoy the bi-monthly newsletters, involvement in activities and trips, participation in volunteer opportunities, and knowing who to contact when they have a question through our robust website, including our secure online member directory.

Participation on the Board or being part of a committee is always welcome to help the Club remain viable.

Additional Pictures of Early HP (and Agilent)