W2EHR 1950 New York City, New York

Marguerite "Maggi" Griffith Beneke, W2EHR, later W0EHR.
Wife of Tex Beneker, famous jazz musician of the Big Band era who played with Glenn Miller.

W2EHR Call Sign History:

Then...
My call sign, W2EHR was originally held by Marguerite "Maggi" Griffith Beneke. Few people today have ever heard of her, but she was very well known in her day. Maggi was born on January 14, 1918 in Lufkin, Texas (my home state!) and met her future husband, Gordon Lee "Tex" Beneke in Forth Worth in 1936 when she was appearing as a chorus girl in a Billy Rose production during the Texas centennial celebration. She was also a candidate for Miss Texas that year. Gordon, at that time a member of Ben Young's swing band, was playing in town when they happened to meet. Gordon was offered and accepted a job as the primary tenor saxophonist with the not yet famous Glenn Miller Orchestra in April, 1938. It was Glenn who gave him the nickname, "Tex." Tex and Maggi were married on November 1, 1938, and the couple relocated to New York City where they lived for 18 years. In 1949, Gordon received his amateur radio license and first call sign, W2CKD. A short time later, in 1950, Maggi was also licensed as W2EHR. In 1956, they relocated to St. Louis, MO to be closer to Maggi's mother and step-father. Tex's call was then changed to K0HWY and Maggi became W0EHR. Their marriage lasted almost thirty years until Maggi passed away on June 1, 1968 at the age of 50. My husband, a part-time trombonist/big band leader, holds Tex's call, K0HWY so it was a real thrill for both of us when I was able to receive Maggi's original call sign through the vanity call program. A big, "thank you" to Mildred Kitchens, Maggi's sister who in 2017 at the age of 97, helped provide some of the missing pieces to the story! We are forever grateful.

...and now
I received my Technician license in August, 2016 and upgraded to General in October. During this same time, I acquired Maggi's old call through the vanity call program. Making time for amateur radio is hard at the moment but I hope to be more active in the years to come. I enjoy sending and receiving traditional paper QSL cards and I'm currently working on WAS. As of July, I only need 2 states (ID and UT) to have all 50 (aside from 5 pending return). Hope to have that wrapped up by year's end.

QSL from the estate of W5LAJ
W2EHR Call Sign History (used with permission of Thuy Truc Truong)
Courtesy of W5KNE