here are the names that come to mind that began VARA. 

Tony Sokol (father)
Brian Cullen (Radio Remote Control both 2M & 450 MHz)
Bob Loving (Receiver)
Bob Swoger (Exciter-Driver CW-ID Anti-PL Squelch-Gate)
Don Munter (RF Pwr Amp Heat Sink)
Jerry ??? (Power Supply - 13.6 Volts @ 30 Amps)
Bob Bingham ( 6 ft outdoor rack cabinet)
Dave Patton (Antennas)
Can't Remember (Diplexer)
Herb Cleave - Russ Boggs - Bob Kirkpatrick - others (Shed on the hill)
Ken Slee (Logging)
Ken & Jan Doven (Constitution & Charter)
Pete Kwitkowski (Everything else!)
Everything Else (RF Pwr Amp - Site - license - Heliax - tower - in-cabinet wiring)

Another moment in VARA History remembered...

Another moment in VARA History is remembered now with the passing
of Don Munter, WB9CBU. Don became a Silent Key Sunday evening,
February 21, 1999 at his Hebron Indiana home in the presence of
his wife Charlotte, his son Alan, his Daughter Sarah and his twin
brother David, WB9ULT. Don was 56.

Don was one of the major contributors to the first VARA 2 Meter
Radio Remote Control completely Solid State High Power Repeater
station, first assembled by Peter A Kwitkowski, WA9LEF - K9RO in
the basement of his home in Streamwood Illinois in late 1970.
This station was later be known as VARA ONE. Pete himself, who
licensed the first radio remote controlled Amateur Repeater in
the US with the call letters WR9ABQ (America's Best Quality),
became a Silent Key soon after the Andrew Hurricane in 1992 at
the age of 44.

In 1970 there where no commercially made high power fully solid
state transmitters but Pete was determined to make one. A 35
pound aluminum sandbox heatsink casting was given to Don Munter,
then a master mechanist in Crete Illinois, to machine into the
first VARA RF Power Amplifier conduction cooled heatsink. When
Don was finished, it all went together perfectly!

Fellow VARA members in the following years worked Don as he
traveled to and from work in both Crete Illinois and later Oak
Forest Illinois using his own 110 watt 2 meter rig in his company
owned van with a roof mounted gain whip, this after a career
change to heating and air conditioning. Don in those days donated
much of his time working in the television booth of the Oak
Forest Baptist Temple for Channel 38's Chicago Gospel Hour.

Why this connection with VARA? Don and his brother Dave were the
Thornton High School buddies of Bob Swoger, K9WVY of Harvey
Illinois graduating in 1961. Don joined the Navy, Dave the Air
Force and Bob, Motorola. Dave Munter and Bob were both residents
of Streamwood. They all watched their children grow up together
and become as close as family.

Today with the LORD at age 56 - Donald Munter - WB9CBU