Chatter May 2016
May 2016
I often pass the Police Training Building adjacent to Dominican Hospital to visit friends living at Dominican Oaks. Larry Edler, WB6MVK, used to conduct our monthly VE sessions there after we moved from the County Board of Education Building in Soquel.
Our group of VEs of about five, met, rain or shine to examine any of our prospective or upgrading hams. Larry did all the “hard” work of compiling and mailing the paperwork and stats for ARRL/FCC use and license issuance.
We volunteer examiners did the necessary monitoring and grading of exams. Our little team showed up at each scheduled session, whether we had a candidate or not, as walk-ins were always accepted. We usually had a few candidates but the numbers fell off gradually. There was a lengthy period when there were no candidates to examine. We temporarily discontinued our VE sessions.
One member of our team was Fran Adamson. She was always present at our sessions and helping in whatever way she could. We became very close friends and bonded through the close proximity of our ages. We were both born in the same year and the same month in 1928. I was three days older than she. Whenever we met, we wished each other a happy birthday and remembered the good old days in the 1930s when the Great Depression was at its peak. Fran and her husband Frank lived in Felton and about the only times we saw each other were during VE sessions, and perhaps, Field Days at the CDF Training site in Bonny Doon.
Fran passed away on May 6th, 2016.
