6621797853.jpg &&& FORT WORTH — When Pete S. Kleven was a child, his teacher wrote to his parents: "Someday, he will be a great man. He is brilliant and, oh, he is smart."That teacher was rightMr. Kleven was an aeronautical engineer who loved to build and fix machines and clocks, and even re-engineered his own house.Mr. Kleven, 93, died of congestive heart failure Wednesday.In 1928, at age 13, he won a prize from the Minnesota State Fair for building a 4-foot-tall sailboat from scratch. The boat now sits in the house of his son, Peter David Kleven, 63, a retired supervisor with the Tarrant County Community Supervision and Corrections Department.Mr. Kleven, who did college-level work in high school, earned a scholarship to the University of Minnesota. He also served in the Marines."I don’t think he got much sleep," his son said.At that time, Mr. Kleven met two people who would always be a part of his life — his best friend, Goodwin Luck, and his future wife, Mary Jane Moore, whom he met on a blind date. And he would pursue his love for aviation. His fascination began in childhood when he would watch airplanes take off at the military field near his home.He majored in engineering, and in the Marines he was the first one in his unit to fly solo.He moved to San Diego in the 1930s to work at Convair. But Mr. Kleven had severe allergies in California, so the family moved to Texas in 1941. He spent his whole career at Convair, now Lockheed Martin.Mr. Kleven led the aeronautical engineering group and investigated plane crashes.Mr. Kleven redesigned the Arlington Heights home he lived in for 66 years. And he and his wife danced with the Leikerringen Norwegian Society Dancers. His wife died in 1996. Their other son, Curtis, died in 1991.Mr. Kleven was also active in neighborhood associations and was a deacon at Trinity Lutheran Church. Other survivors include sister Swanhild Poehlman, a grandson and a great-grandson. Services The funeral is at 11:30 a.m. today in Greenwood Chapel, 3100 White Settlement Road, Fort Worth. Interment is at Greenwood Memorial Park.