BVARC Club Updates for Wednesday, August 05, 2015 Last week was a very hard one for Brazos Valley Amateur radio club. We lost a close member and the president. Bill Stone, WS5H, passed away after fighting with cancer for several years. I wanted to write something up but I could not do it. Luckily Bob Hawkins, KD5AT, wrote something that covers the club’s lose.
The following is by Bob Hawkins, KD5AT. Dear BVARC family, As you probably know by now, we have said goodbye to one of our own. Our club president, William (Bill) Dressel Stone, WS5H, became a silent key on Friday Morning. His suffering from the long term illness has finally come to an end. Bill was born almost 61 years ago in the Bronx borough of New York city. His survived by his dear wife, Norma, daughter Rachelle, stepsons Guy David Sinopli, Jesse Doyle Sinopoli, and Anthony Gerald Sinopoli. Bill spent great amounts of time giving to others including helping others in many ways. He assisted many ham radio operators with getting up on the air or adjusting their equipment to optimal performance. His participation and organization of Museum Ships Weekend was a huge effort on promoting amateur radio and well as those who served in World War II. Bill took great efforts to honor the sailors who served on the USS Destroyer Escort Stewart and the USS Cavalla with his persistent volunteer efforts in their radio rooms. In our shared hobby, Bill was an avid contester who made optimal use of modest equipment. He had a reputation for getting a lot done with a small investment. He achieved many awards in his contesting efforts achieving 10-10 International Recognition and Worked All States certificates among many others. Bill served as leadership in several organizations including Brazos Valley Amateur Radio Club, Texas DX Society and The Pasadena Wrecker Owner Association. Bill was also a very active member of the Harris County Amateur Radio Emergency Services. During Hurricane Ike, Bill and Norma put in many hours of emergency volunteer emergency service at Westoaks Hospital. Bill had impact on many of us including those he sponsored in AA and which said was life changing. To his family, Bill was a rock, to his friends, a persistent encourager and enduring friend. Bill fought his illness for years. Despite his illness, he never gave up on life. He constantly looked for ways to fill his days with joy in the service and fellowship of his family, friends and even many he hardly knew. Bob also posted the following: Silent Key by Unknown I didn’t hear a call last night Little steps through the dial Until just before light I finally gave up after awhile A familiar voice of a friend The camaraderie that had grown Hours of conversation with someone Their face I have never known After a week With no signal found Without a peep Without a sound A message finally On email from a friend Finally brought the reality Of this home to me again My faceless friend Had passed away That gentle voice He became a silent key that day For anyone that would be interested in helping the Stone family, a site has been set-up at http://www.gofundme.com/m7j2jchd to help them. Happenings for This Week This Saturday will be busy for BVARC. Besides the normal breakfast at IHOP on the Southwest freeway, there are two schedule meetings. The information on the meetings are: Board of Directors Meeting Time, Day & Date: 10:00 am, Saturday, August 8th 2015 Location: Bayland Park Community Center Address: 6400 Bissonnet Houston 77074 Great Houston Hamfest Organizational and Planning Session also known as the GHHFOPS (for those of you that like acronyms) Time, Day & Date: 12:00 pm, Saturday, August 8th 2015 Location: Bayland Park Community Center Address: 6400 Bissonnet Houston 77074 Happenings for Next Week Annual Ice Cream Social – Thursday, August 13th, 2015 With no Blue Bell ice cream available, the BVARC annual the ice cream social had a major problem. We had to decide on having the annual event even with sub-standard, cheap imitations of an ice cream or do we cancel the event? I mean, no Blue Bell! It just seems ludicrous to even consider an event that has ice cream as its main “topic” without Blue Bell but that is what was being considered. So after many hours of teeth gnashing, it was decided to have the ice cream social without Blue Bell. We felt that BVARC could survive this one time without the official ice cream of Texas. There will also be a club vote on changing the by-laws. With the size of the club around 220 members, it has become difficult to obtain a quorum at general meetings. The vote will be to lower the percentage number from 25% to 10% to allow for votes to be taken during regular meetings. So come on out to help the club with the important by-law change. And to make the voting and Ice cream social more interesting, there will be a handheld radio raffle. Four, count them four, Baofeng dual band hand held radios will be available for raffle during the ice cream social. Throughout the meeting raffle tickets will be drawn for the Baofeng radio. How can you beat that – free ice cream and a chance to win a radio. However there is a catch, there radios will only be available if there are enough members for a voting quorum. If we do not have enough members present, the radios will be held for the November meeting when we will try and vote on the amendment again. So make sure you come out to the ice cream social and bring another club member. So come out and enjoy the event to socialize and tell lies. 73 N5VCX
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