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Kathryn "Kitty" Hach-Darrow (b. 1922) grew up in Missouri in the midst of the Great Depression. Her father, originally a prosperous car dealer with an enthusiasm for aviation, was forced by circumstances to sell his plane and move his family to a farm in order to provide a living for them. Kitty earned money for her college tuition by raising turkeys for market. She studied at Christian College before transferring to Iowa State University to prepare to become a home economics teacher. At Iowa State she particularly admired Nellie Naylor, a chemist in the home economics department who inspired generations of women to enter chemical professions. At the university she met Clifford Hach, whom she married at the end of her junior year in 1943. Four years later they established their company with just $15,000 that Clifford had earned from the sale of his patent describing a new way to generate carbon dioxide to fight fires.
While her husband oversaw their company’s research and development, Kathryn dealt with business operations, marketing, and other general management. Over the next half century she guided the company’s growth into a global leader in water purification.
The company was instrumental in standardizing water-purification tests and pioneered many world-standard water-testing instruments. Their tests were designed to be simple and effective, with non-technical directions. After Clifford’s death in 1990, Kathryn led the company while her son Bruce (one of the Hachs' three children) gradually took on more responsiblity. In 1995 Kitty Hach married Donald Darrow, a retired airline pilot. The Hach Chemical Company was sold in 1999.
For Further Reading on the Web
Hach-Darrow, Kathryn C. Oral history interviews by Arnold Thackray and Arthur Daemmrich, 20 July 2002, 2 October 2003, and 8 February 2004. Interview 0255, Chemical Heritage Foundation Oral History Collection, Philadelphia. Abstract, table of contents, and biographical information available online.
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