The man behind the DuPage Children's Museum's exhibits

You're not likely to find volunteer Dave Dumford playing with kids at the DuPage Children's Museum, unless maybe his grandchildren are visiting.

But you will see lots of kids playing with exhibits Dumford helped build at the Naperville museum.

Take the popular Glow-Bright, with which children create art designs and learn mathematical patterns by sticking brightly glowing colored tubes into a panel with holes to hold them.

Or the car big enough for pint-sized passengers to sit in, even a passenger in a wheelchair, and that lets the kids change a tire.

Then there's the pneumatic tube -- push a button and send a ball whizzing up through the air just like mom and dad do when they make a deposit via the drive-up window at the bank.

Or take, well, any number of exhibits that Dumford has had a hand in creating.

"I'd rather do that than play with kids all the time," Dumford said. "Just to watch the cheerful faces of the kids is quite rewarding."

Mark Wickart, the museum's manager of exhibit fabrication and maintenance, credits Dumford with being his true partner in building ever-fresh challenges for children to enjoy.

"Dave probably has more to do with the look of the museum than any volunteer we have in the shop," he said. "You can just give him a project and trust him to take it on and complete it."

A question of time

Dumford, a Naperville resident and retired engineering manager with AT&T, spends two full days a week working at the museum.

This from a man who a few years ago told volunteer coordinator Diane Ernst that he was interested in helping out, but couldn't put in much time.

"I can't volunteer much because I play golf and fish," she recalls him saying.

Dumford also informed Ernst he did not want to be assigned to paint.

"I don't like to paint," he told her. "I won't paint."

Dumford hasn't done much painting since he started donating his time in 2002 -- his volunteer hours now top 4,350 -- but he's done more than his share of other work.

Most volunteers give two hours a week for 30 or 40 weeks a year, Ernst said.

"There's nobody close" to the hours Dumford has donated, she said. "He volunteers more than some of our staff work."

Dumford, who checked out the museum at the suggestion of his daughter, said he took to it immediately when he walked in with his grandchildren.

"The first time I came in here, I said this looks like a fun place to be," he said.

Dumford will be among some 600 volunteers the museum honors with thank you letters, treats and drawings for gift cards during National Volunteer Week, which started Sunday and runs through Saturday.

Only Dumford isn't here to receive recognition. He's away on one of his semi-annual fishing trips.

"He keeps accumulating hours faster than I can think of recognition," Ernst said.

Dumford says he doesn't want the recognition -- his satisfaction is in what he's doing.

"I was always reasonably handy with my hands," he said.

Hands-on volunteer

Wickart, who formerly worked in commercial art, said Dumford's background in engineering has been a plus.

"There is a lot of things Dave has taught me," he said. "Dave is especially good at working out mechanical problems."

Both men are proud of the Glow-Bright, the only exhibit they created that has been patented. Wickart came up with the idea and the two men worked together to construct it. They built the cabinets of scrap wood and cut and glued together PCV pipe to hold the tubes.

"This kept us busy for two months," Dumford said. "It was rather labor intensive."

The sturdy exhibit has stood the test of time while providing hours of fascination for youngsters.

"The harder thing is to make something that looks good, works well and doesn't break when the kids play with it," Dumford said.

The museum's shop has been expanded twice since Dumford came, and he put in the duct work for the dust collection system.

Dumford came with construction experience. After retiring from AT&T, he volunteered for Fox Valley Habitat for Humanity for five or six years, serving as construction manager. In addition to building homes in Aurora, he traveled with Habitat to Florida and Georgia, where he met former President Jimmy Carter on several occasions and visited his church.

"When Jimmy's in town, busloads of people come because Jimmy teaches Sunday school," he said.

A member of the board of trustees of his own church, Bethany Lutheran in Naperville, Dumford also has done construction projects there.

Dumford has even been offered a job at the Children's Museum, but turned it down.

"I don't want to be confined to say I have to go to work," he said.

But Dumford has no plans to quit the museum, and actually has contributed financially in honor of the hours he's worked.

"I see no reason not to (volunteer) as long as I'm able and they're willing to let me come down and play," he said.

In fact, Dumford recommends volunteering to anyone.

"It provides a lot of fellowship. It keeps your mind busy," he said. "If everyone volunteered at least two or three hours a week, or something like that, we would get a lot more done."

FYI

For information on volunteering at the DuPage Children's Museum, visit www.dupagechildrensmuseum.org or call Diane Ernst at (630) 637-8000, ext. 4680.