More than just a handy man

Sporting a baby blue work shirt offering a nametag that reads "Tom," the handy man at the Imaginarium Hands-on Museum starts his day with a short session of paperwork. Then, it's off to the myriad tasks requiring his attention.

Tom Dalheimer ERIN McWHORTER / FLORIDA WEEKLY Most days, the ever-changing schedule keeps Tom Dalheimer, 58, and his twoman crew busy.

After the morning paperwork is done, Mr. Dalheimer sets off to inspect and repair The Imaginarium. As the facilities and exhibits manager, he might be found cutting the grass or landscaping, maintaining the outdoor lagoon, checking air-conditioning units, or inspecting the aquariums.

In between carrying out the routine maintenance and scheduled renovations, Mr. Dalheimer works in one of several on-site but unseen workshops, leaning over a table spread with an electrical board of his own device and fiddling with diodes.

"I'm not out on the floor," he said. "My guys and I are out in the yard or in rooms like this or in the shop. We design all our electronics."

Mr. Dalheimer is charged with assembling the new displays, a task that often includes his serving as an electronics engineer. As themed exhibits are planned by the staff at the Imaginarium, he and Matt Johnson, General Manager, pitch in to create the gadgets that can delight and inspire a school bus load of kids.

On some days, fix-it missions spontaneously occur — often announced by the crackle of his walkie-talkie. That's when a flock of summer camp attendees, for instance, might spot Mr. Dalheimer on the way with his tools, ready to repair. Recently, the Imaginarium kitchen needed a quick transformation into a new vending machine area. Mr. Dalheimer and crew took on the overhaul and completed the new room in just two days.

"Everything is from day to day," he said. "If something comes up, we just do it."

Having become an integral part of the Imaginarium staff more than a decade ago, Mr. Dalheimer's personal reward comes in the form of pride.

"We're proud of the Imaginarium and where it's going with school groups," Mr. Dalheimer said. "We try to make everything fun."

Long before he started working at the Imaginarium, Mr. Dalheimer was turning wrenches in Coon Rapids, Minn., as a diesel mechanic.

Born in Champlin, Minn., he admits to always being geared toward machinery. Mr. Dalheimer recalls his first mechanical creation was the fusion of a lawnmower engine and bicycle frame.

"I'm very mechanically inclined," he said. "I like to build things and mess around with things."

While growing up in Minnesota, he was also involved in quarter-mile snowmobile racing on local farming land. After his youthful hijinks, Mr. Dalheimer's life took a serious turn. A Vietnam veteran, he served seven years in the U.S. Army, working on heavy-track vehicles, earning the rank of master sergeant.

He returned home after the war to Minnesota where his training and experience was put to use as the chief mechanic for the city of Coon Rapids. Then a workrelated injury — a piece of lawn mowing equipment damaged his arm — left him down but not out.

"I could operate any piece of equipment the city had," he said about his position before the injury. Fortunately, he received compensation wages and the city was ordered by a judge to pay for Mr. Dalheimer to get an associate's degree in electronics.

Afterward, he began work in commercial grade sale and repair at Blaine Hardware's Small Engine City., located in Blaine, Minn.

There, he helped build and repair snowmobiles and the regionally-popular "Wet Bike," a sort of motorcycle on skis. Mr. Dalheimer's mechanical skills never failed him throughout his life.

Today, he's working on an upcoming display portraying firemen and police officers as modern-day heroes. Mr. Dalheimer said that it is probably one of his favorite exhibits.

When not putting in extra hours sorting out the final touches on new exhibits coming to the Imaginarium, Mr. Dalheimer enjoys his membership in Scale Rails of Southwest Florida, a local hobby group interested in model trains.

He and his wife, residents of Lehigh Acres, also take pleasure in weekend trips away from the city.