Fatality in Henderson an $8 million lottery winner

Cathy Scott

Tuesday, Aug. 12, 1997 | 10:07 a.m.

The last time Nick James and Bob McClone saw their friend Harold "Mel" Dittmer was Friday.

On Sunday, the 58-year-old Dittmer drowned after he was knocked down while trying to walk across raging storm waters at Skyline Road and Tamarack Drive. He was trying to get to his mother's home in Henderson.

"He dropped by Friday and we had a bull session," James said. "We were friends. He stopped by all the time."

The "bull session" was at the Teamsters & Truck Drivers Union Local 631's offices on Wall Street. Dittmer, a Henderson resident, was vice president and a business manager of the local for six years before retiring 18 months ago. He represented Nevada Test Site workers, James said.

"Of all the things, one person drowned during the storm and it had to be him," James said.

A couple of years ago Dittmer won more than $8 million in the California lottery, and he split the winnings with his mother.

McClone, also a Teamster who said Dittmer worked for him at the Test Site in the early 1960s, also shared the money with strangers.

"He was the most generous man I've ever known," McClone said. "When Mel hit the California lottery he did nothing but give it to people, people he didn't even know very well. He paid people's dues he didn't even know who didn't have money. Mel always helped people, before he ever won that money."

Dittmer, who was missing one arm, was knocked down about 1:30 p.m. in the peak of the Sunday storm from the rushing water in the intersection and thrown under a parked car, Henderson Fire Department Chief Brad Kreutzer said. Passers-by tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate him after they pulled him out. He died later at St. Rose Dominican Hospital.

"The rush of water was too strong for the people to pull him out in time," Kreutzer said.

On Monday, his fellow members at the Teamsters local were still in shock over Dittmer's death.

"We go back some 30-odd years," McClone said. "He and I were the best of friends. He was a very caring man."

Funeral arrangements were pending.