Bill Plimpton W2IXH
Mr. Robt. Buus,
It was with a deep sense of loss, & at first disbelief, that I read the Eulogy, to my old friend Dick Turrin, that was in Nov. QST for 94. (editor’s note: actually Feb, 1994)
I first met
Dick when he was a young man, living at home with his mother, on a chicken
farm, in
I was going
to sea, as Radio Oper, first on liberty ships in WW2,
& later with Exxon (then Standard Oil of N.J.) A friend in
The long & short of it was, he asked me if I knew any likely candidate for the job, & I mentioned Dick Turrin. Dick went to the library, & got the Q & A, studied it for about a week, went down to NYC & got the 1st phone license, & the job.
I got
Married, in 1948, & my wife & I kept up the friendship with Dick &
his family. He went to college, &
got his Electrical Engineers diploma. By
then he was working part time for AT&T.
They sent him on to get his masters.
(in between he was in the army & was an instructor in Radar, at
We sort of
became separated, thru marriage, & raising families. We kept in touch thru letters, mostly at xmas time. I visited
him several times at Colts Neck. Last
time was about 6 or 8 yrs ago. He was
going to come & visit with us, up here in
We first
moved to
Quite some
time ago now, maybe 15 to 20 yrs ago, while we still lived in N.J., I got up
early & went on 20 CW. Hrd this VK5 calling a W2 a number of times, with no
answer. There had been a hurricane swept
thru the
At the end of the next xmission he said this is Dick, W2IMU! One of the most unusual contacts I every made. He was out, in the outback, operating one of his EME friends rigs. I made a phone contact to a friend down the shore he was calling, but the friend had gone to work. (could it have been you?)
Anyway, I wonder if you would send me a Xerox of any obituary, or obituary’s about his demise? I would also appreciate it, if you would give me his daughters name, & address? Is she, & her brothers till living at his home in Colts Neck? I would like to write to them.
Dick was a very nice person, a good friend, & an excellent ham. We will miss him.
73, Bill, W2IXH