GM ALL
W4ZV and K8MFO have already commented on Jack's passing - I will only note a
bit more here.
I happened to be one of those guys on "JACK'S PHONE LIST"that K8MFO mentioned
earlier - and I too benefited from a number of late night & early morning phone
calls as did N4WW, N0XA and others over the years.
Jack was a really fine gentleman - the genuine real deal kind of guy - soft
spoken and a fine 160m operator well into his 80's.
As Bernie's post noted, Jack lived to be 96 and I used to see him in the 160M
suite at Dayton in the mid 1980's - I used to go with him to Dayton and one day
Jack said - "Jeff, I have outlived most of the guys I used to come here to talk
with - except for you and ZV and one or two others, I really do not know too
many of the guys anymore". I guess that happens when you outlive most of your
peers....
Always, in good humor, Jack suffered a personal tragedy when his son
predeceased him - something I know hit him very hard some years ago.
When he retired to a retirement community in FLA some years later, he still
managed a good signal on xmit on 160m although his Rx situation suffered
somewhat as a result.
I do recall calling him on the phone to work VK0IR in 1997 when Bob Allphin was
there and Jack made the Q from his small lot. He was thrilled to get that one
into his log...
Like me Jack was an FT1000D guy and we often talked about what a neat radio it
was when it first came out.
Over the years, my phone would ring now and then - and his familiar voice would
say "Jeff (long pause....) - this is Jack Matthews".....and we would just chat
about things for a half hour or so.... "Are u working anything new these days
he would say...it has been really slow down here..."
I will miss those phone calls for sure and the distant friendship of a really
nice guy - he always asked me to come down to visit but somehow I never managed
to do that - now I sure wish that I had found the time to do so at least once.
RIP Jack - you will be missed - sorry we will not be hearing "OWJ" in the
pileups on 160m anymore when a rare one shows up.
73 JEFF K1ZM/VY2ZM
Email K1ZM@aol.comGM
_______________________________________________
Remember the PreStew coming on October 20th. http://www.kkn.net/stew for more
info.
|