Ken Bosher, Electrical, Mechanical, Electronic
Cafes: Esopus, Gardiner, Kingston, New Paltz, Poughkeepsie, Rondout Valley, Saugerties, Woodstock; often guest stars at new cafes.
Legend has it that Ken Boscher, also known by the moniker “Ken Fix It,” was the very first repair coach recruited to our network. He himself confirmed that “Barbara Lane (jewelry) and I are the original-est coaches still active,” and informed me that they just both celebrated their 11th Repair Café anniversary this past May at the New Paltz Repair Cafe. When he met RCHV founder John Wackman back in 2013 before the very first Hudson Valley event, Ken had never heard of a repair cafe. But he says, “once I did, I said ‘sign me the **** up for that!” and have been doing it since.” He also told John he would happily help out for just pizza--and thus was born the great RCHV tradition of providing our volunteers with a pizza lunch for their efforts.
When I asked Ken if he had any specialty items he fixes, he jokingly responded, “lamps, seemingly endless lamps!” I have seen him fix probably more than his share of lamps, but I’ve also seen him fix many KitchenAid mixers, vacuums, radios, record players, chairs and even a number of sewing machines. As a veteran repair coach, Ken has helped many new fixers and even a few café organizers get their sea legs—because not only does he likes to fix things, he also likes to encourage others to do so too. “I remember a young mother who brought her sixish-year-old son and a broken toaster. They had a new toaster already, but he wanted to see what was inside the broken one, and maybe learn a little about how it worked. I tried not to give so much detail that he would stop listening, but to cultivate the notion that there’s nothing magical, nothing he couldn’t understand after learning a few basic principles—and that understanding a toaster would make it easier to understand the next thing. I hope he took that much home, if nothing else. Besides the busted toaster, of course.”
When he’s not at a repair café, Ken is a handyman in the greater Ulster County region where he fixes houses and, occasionally, lamps. When he gets the rare day off, he enjoys napping, snacking, snark, target shooting and reloading, and working on his own house. If you’d like to reach him for a project or question, you can do so at kenfixitny@gmail.com or 845-616-7999.
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