Navarro (Nav) Tyndall Fosse

Navarro (Nav) Tyndall Fosse

Navarro (Nav) Tyndall Fosse, 90, passed away peacefully on Feb. 23, 2016 at his home at the Covington in Aliso Viejo, Calif. Navarro (Nav) Tyndall Fosse was an only child, born on Sept. 23, 1925 in Cresco, Iowa, to Tyndall and Bessie (Evans) Fosse. He grew up in Ridgeway and graduated from Ridgeway High School in 1943. He attended Luther College in Decorah, in the fall of 1943 before being drafted into the United States Army, where he served in Germany during and after World War II. In April 1946, he returned home from the war and married the love of his life, Lieschen (Snick) Dahlke of Sheffield, on Sept. 8, 1946. Nav and Snick settled in Nashua, where they were the parents to four children, Chris (Susan) Fosse of Bellevue, Wash.; Karen (Bruce) Johnson of Laguna Hills, Calif.; Rebecca (David) Robinson of Janesville, Wis. and Gretchen Fosse of Marina Del Rey, Calif.

In 1948, Nav started the Nashua Tile Company with $600 he saved from the Army. After three years of making drain tile, he invented a machine to make larger tiles, which he soon sold to a company in Minnesota. He built a second machine, which immediately sold to another customer, and he soon realized there was more opportunity in the machinery business and discontinued making tiles and began making machinery.

The Nashua Tile Company became Hydrotile Machinery Company which he grew to over 300 employees with facilities in Nashua, Woodstock, Ontario and Crucuius, Netherlands.

Nav received eight patents for inventions he made for the concrete pipe industry. He and his wife, Snick, traveled to over 45 countries attending trade shows and making sales calls for the company, building Hydrotile into a leader in the industry.

During his tenure with Hydrotile he received many honors, including the President’s E Award for excellence in exports, which was presented by the Governor of Iowa. He was a guest of the Russian government to tour their concrete pipe industry and helped improve pipe making all over the world, including in Egypt, where they had a long term project. Nav sold the company to a New York firm in 1975 and continued to work for them another 15 years before retirement.

After retirement, Nav started two more businesses, both of which began as a hobby. Cedar Rail Enterprises was the result of his lifelong love of trains. In 1985, he purchased a dilapidated domed railcar called the Silver Solarium and restored it to its glory days, then leased it to organizations for private railcar trips. He and Snick also enjoyed taking the entire family and grandchildren on rail trips across the country by connecting to Amtrak and going to various destinations by private car.

Cayman Condos was started when he began renting out condos as favors for friends in the Cayman Islands where he and Snick spent more and more time at their home away from home. The business is still operated out of Nashua by family members and local employees. In 2004, he and Snick moved from their home in Nashua to a retirement community in California to be nearer two of their daughters. At the age of 89, he was elected to a three-year term on the Board of the Episcopal Homes of California. He also was a 50-year member of the National Railway Historical Society and the American Association of Private Railroad Car Owners.

Nav was truly a remarkable man who enjoyed life to the fullest and was a wonderful husband, father and grandfather. All of his grandchildren adored him and could think of no greater vacation than to spend with Grandpa Nav and listening to his fascinating stories. Nav’s beloved wife, Snick, preceded him in death in 2014. In addition to his children, Nav is survived by eight grandchildren: Kevin (Melissa) Fosse of Big Sky, Mont., Brian Fosse of Portland, Ore., Matthew (Blake) Johnson of Riverside, Calif., Andrew (Jess) Johnson of Manchester, N.H., Ashley Johnson of Denver, Colo., Joseph (Sarah) Robinson of Waukesha, Wis., Kristin Robinson of Stamford, Conn., Paul Robinson of Memphis, Tenn., and three great-grandchildren: Brett Robinson, Haley Robinson and Gunnar Johnson.

A Celebration of Life will be held on March 19, 2016 at the Covington in Aliso Viejo, Calif. Graveside services will be held at Oakhill Cemetery in Nashua on May 28, 2016, followed by a visitation with the family at Hugeback-Johnson Funeral Home in Nashua. In lieu of flowers, memorials can be made to Nashua V.F.W., the American Heart Association or Honor Flight San Diego.