We’re saddened to share the passing of former Tipmont board member Richard “Sonny” W. Harlow, Jr., on Nov. 15, 2024. In addition to a nearly 40-year career at Fairfield Manufacturing Company in Lafayette (serving as plant superintendent in the later part of his career), Dick served on the Tipmont board of directors from April 2000 to June 2015. After Dick stepped away from the board, his wife, Jan, assumed his seat and continued that service through September 2024.

“Dick was a great colleague to work with on the board,” says Tipmont board member Larry Carlson, who served alongside him. “One of his greatest ideas was to use soybean oil in transformers instead of PCB chemicals. He drafted a resolution, sent it to the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association’s resolutions committee, and it passed at their annual meeting. Cooperative members nationwide have benefited from Dick’s innovative thinking and decisive action ever since.”

Memorial contributions can be made to the Purdue University Center for Cancer Research.