W9JLR 2013 Park Falls, Wisconsin

When I was a kid, Dad - K8HHZ was a "died in the wool" 75 AM PHONE guy. It was actually a pretty exciting place to be ... you got to know all of the hams in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and a good number in Wisconsin. As a matter of fact, the U.P. was once part of Wisconsin, changed only by the notorious "Toledo Strip Deal", when what is now the northern part of Ohio belonged to Michigan. Due to some sort of political shenanigans, that lad was ceded to Ohio. In order to repay Michigan, the U.P. was taken away from Wisconsin and given to Michigan. What did Wisconsin get out of the deal? NOTHING, as far as I can tell, but I digress.

One of Dad's pals was Bill - W9JLR (Johnny Loves Radio) in Park Falls, Wisconsin. Bill was a power house on 75 AM with his BC-610 transmitter. When Bill spoke, everyone listened.! He and Dad had a lot of things in common, like WWII combat CW experience. Bill's brother in law also owned a bar named Tubby's, which was not far from our house, and he used to visit the U.P. regularly.

As with a lot of hams, I lost touch with Bill until May 8 of this year when I heard him calling CQ on 20 CW. I called him and we had a great rag chew, eventually exchanging QSLs and letters. In his letter he said he was a bit weak and would be going to the doctor. When I received November QST yesterday, I saw that he was listed as a Silent Key. I did a quick Google Search and located his interesting obituary. Bill did some remarkable things, including playing TAPS for over 70 years for his American Legion Post.

http://www.ashlandwi.com/obituaries/article_0098e7fe-e5a7-11e2-96ef-0019bb2963f4.html

A couple of years ago he was interviewed for the American Legion magazine, as shown in the following URL.

http://www.legion.org/magazine/152397/feeling-and-reverence

Once again we've lost someone from "America's Greatest Generation", a "real ham', who cannot be replaced.

I'm surely happy that I had the chance to renew acquaintances with Bill in the last part of his life.

Courtesy of K8MFO