N5OT wrote:
> I hope his memorial service was a good one
It was indeed a good one. There were around 75-100 hams at the Georgia
service. We filled over half of the chapel. The contesting community was
well-represented with many familiar faces there. I won't try list them
because I know I will miss some, but most of the Top Ten in nearly any
contest you can name were there. Some flew in from as far out as W5, W6, W2,
and W1.
The chapel had a number of important elements of Bill's life on display:
photos of him playing with his kids; photos of the mountaintop station; his
bike; a rig; and his contest awards/plaques (including his 1996 WRTC Silver
Medal) were spread out on a large table.
The officiating minister read the ARRL obituary, then invited a few people
to say a few words. K1AR read a poem that N0AX wrote, and K2UA and N5TJ
offered some remembrances. TJ ended his with a short burst of CW ("W4AN 73
SK dit-dit").
Non-ham friends from cycling and work gave short speeches. The cycling guy
commented that he will always remember riding behind Bill on long training
rides, impressed at how Bill could keep going and going. I think we can all
relate to "riding behind" Bill.
A co-worker related an incident where someone at the office asked Bill why
he was so heavily into ham radio, and contesting in particular. Bill's reply
was "Can you tell me something you do better than almost everyone in the
world? I can. I do ham radio contesting. That's why."
Bill's mother, father, brother, and widow were clearly overwhelmed with the
outpouring of kind wishes and support they have received from the ham
community, as well as how many hams showed up yesterday ("You mean you flew
here today just for this service, and are going home later today?!?"). I
don't think they had any idea how much Bill meant to the ham radio (and
especially contesting) community.
73,
Doug K1DG
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