A couple of months ago, I was saddened to learn of the death of Gwynn Suits, W8BY. His memorial service was held just this morning. Here’s Gwynn’s obituary from the local news website:
Suits, Gwynn H. 11/17/1922 – 1/19/2016 Ann Arbor Gwynn Halyburton Suits, 93 of Ann Arbor, Michigan passed away Tuesday, January 19 at his home at Glacier Hills Senior Living Community. He was born November 17, 1922 in St. Louis, Missouri, the third of six sons, to Hollis E. and Dorothy (Halyburton) Suits of Kirkwood, Missouri. He received his B.S., M.A., and PhD. in Physics from the University of Michigan. He conducted groundbreaking research in the field of remote sensing at the Environmental Research Institute of Michigan and its predecessor Willow Run Laboratories, holding patents for his work. In addition, he taught Remote Sensing at the University of Michigan and while on sabbatical conducted research at the National Research Council in Washington, DC and Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. He enjoyed classical music and played viola with his family and friends. He had a passion for amateur radio becoming licensed in 1939 and used these skills to contribute to the war effort during WWII. He was preceded in death by his wife of 48 years, Ruth Kellogg Cheney Suits, brothers Kingsley, McCawley, and Thaddeus Suits; and granddaughter April Morris. He is survived by his brothers Daniel Suits and Alan (Jane Veith) Suits, children Vivian (Richard) Grauch, Bryan (Joan) Suits, Peyton (Deborah) Suits, and Duston (Linda) Suits; his grandchildren Christopher and Andrew Grauch; James, William, and Robert Suits; Christina (Ernesto) Garabito, Isaac Gaub, Charity Suits, Myriah (Kelton) Suits Leggett; and Kathryn and Sarah Suits; seven great-grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews.
I was surprised, and somewhat disappointed, that I was the only member of the local amateur radio community to attend. Gwynn had been a very active member of our local club, ARROW, in the past, at one point serving as president. Perhaps it was the unusual scheduling, the service being held three months after his death.
I did get to meet his family, though, and they were very cordial and interesting people in their own right. I discovered that two of his sons and a daughter-in-law were also radio amateurs.
In recent years, Gwynn did not actively participate in our club activities. Indeed, I never did meet him face to face, but he was a regular check-in to our Monday night nets, and I had the pleasure of several other contacts with him.
On the net, he enjoyed telling jokes, mostly corny jokes, told tongue deeply in cheek. One of my favorites was about an antenna party held one Saturday morning. The members gathered around 10 a.m. at Sam’s house, and after about an hour and a half, had completed the job. As they gathered around the table for lunch, Sam noticed that Joe was missing. Going back outside, they found Joe still up on the roof. “Hey, fella,” Sam shouted up to Joe, “what are you still doing up there?” “Well,” replied Joe, ” didn’t you say that the drinks were on the house?”
Jokes like these were always followed by a low groan. We miss that groan on our Monday night nets.
Paul kk4ptv says
Attending the Funeral was great testimony to your loyalty to the Club!
Great tribute to a great SK
Dave New, N8SBE says
Sorry, I didn’t see the post to the club mailing list until today. They go into a folder, and so I miss seeing posts to the ARROW list on my cell phone unless I specifically check that folder. I’m glad that someone managed to go to represent our group. Thanks, Dan.
I did meet Gwynn a number of years ago, when I went to his house to help him clean up after a windstorm and blown over his moonbounce array. I got a piece of bent tower, which I cut up to use as the base for my current tower, and a surplus rotor, which I’m currently using on my tower to turn my quad. He also gave me a “long-john” 2 meter beam which I passed on to another member of the club.
Gwynn will be missed, that’s for sure.
Duston says
Thank you for taking the time to help us celebrate his life. I remember he bought his first 2m rig in 1977, a Drake TR-33C from Purchase Radio. That’s back in the days when the ARROW was on top of Tower Plaza and had the call WR8ADH. Sad to think the only name left from those two sentences is “Tower Plaza.”
Anyway, I’m glad to know he could make people smile…or groan as the case may be.
Duston
N9DS (formerly WD8JKB)