Contact

The Story in the Cards part VIII. Five more mini-bios taken from the QSL (post)cards sent to Arthur Collins and preserved by his son, Michael.

Ralph O. Lyons (1906-1930) (7ALD) was attending Pacific University in Forest Grove, OR, when he DX'd Arthur in July, 1924. He was a member of the Alpha Zeta fraternity. After leaving school he married Pauline (Diamond) and went to work for the Gresham, OR telephone company as a trouble-shooter. Lyons died an accident in 1930 when he came in contact with a high-voltage power line. He left no children. See him at Find a Grave memorial # 72581065.

Elmer R. Gabel (1903-1940) (3CHC) was a ham radio enthusiast living in Kennett Square, PA. He later worked as a radio engineer in Cleveland and he met his future wife there. She died of pulmonary TB in 1935; they didn't have any children. Gabel succumbed to the same disease five years later. See him at Find a Grave memorial # 51016060.

Christopher C. Curley (1891-1944) (1QM) of Lynn, MA served as a corporal in WWI 1917-1918 9th Co., 3rd Battalion, and in Co. D, 307th Supply Train, 82nd Div. He was probably trained by the Army as a radio operator. After the Armistice, he worked as an electrician for the Lynn Fire Department and a city sprinkler alarm company. He was killed in a drunken fight over a woman by her jilted former lover. His assailant was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to 10-15 years in prison. See Curley at Find a Grave memorial # 202034054.

Clarence Babcock Goodwin (1896-1948) (1UW) was the son of William D. Goodwin the Vice-principal of Pittsfield (Mass.) H.S.. After college he went to work as a designer at the Balfour Jewelry Co., in Attleboro, MA the country's largest maker of high school and college class rings and fraternity pins, founded in 1913. He met his future wife there, Loretta Catherine (Cronan), a clerk working in the packing dept., and they married in 1933. Ham radio thrived in the area, but there are no signs Goodwin played an active role in the clubs or stayed with the hobby after 1929. He died just before Christmas, 1948 in an accidental fall down the stairs to his apartment, returning home after some Xmas shopping. He left no children. See him at Find a Grave memorial # 201654788.

Jesse Norcross Sargent, Jr. (1AXY) (1907-1970) of Somerville, MA was a Junior in H.S. when he DX'd Arthur on March 7, 1925. Like Arther, he had been a licensed ham since age 14, and radio would be a life-long passion. Sargent was one of the more elusive hams to track down among Arthur's QSL card-writers, and perhaps that comes when you get too much unwanted press in your youth. Jess's parents were going through an ugly separation, which burst out in public in Oct. 1925 when his father, an early machinist and truck driver for New England Telephone & Telegraph Company, and now a chauffeur for its President, filed a $25,000 lawsuit charging Michael J. Tyrrell with alienation of affections and enticing his wife (Jesse's nother) Leonora (Potter) away from their home and family. Tyrrell, a truck driver for the Gulf Refining Co., had started rooming in the Sargent house c.a. 1921. Upon learning of the affair, Sargent threw Tyrrell out, but Nora continued seeing him, and left the home permanently in July, 1924. The trial was traumatic, with Jesse, Jr. testifying for his mother, and his older sister, Constance, supporting their father. Nora was given to hysterical in-court fits and fainting spells, which ultimately prevented her from testifying. Sargent won a $12,000 judgement and a divorce in Nov. 1926. Nora was given custody of Jesse Jr.; Constance stayed with Jesse, Sr., who remarried Esther (Nesbit) and began a new family. He remained a chauffeur, in the same job, until his death in 1959, when he was acclaimed a "pioneer" of the New England Tel & Tel.Co.. Jesse, Jr. married in 1929-- Grace (last name unknown). He worked as a salesman in an office equipment store. Later he worked for New England Service Sales Company, a wholesale industrial supplier, with offices in Springfield, MA, NYC, SF and Chicago. He operated W8EEM in Dayton, OH c.a. 1932; W2MRD in Great Neck, Long Island, NY c.a. 1940; W1HVL in Cape Elizabeth and Portland, ME 1947-1952; W9MTE in Island Lake, IL c.a. 1958-1960. In 1955 Sargent was recognized by the Addressograph-Multigraph Corporatation as one the nation's top office equipment salesmen and elected to the A-M Hundred Club, an honor reserved for the company's highest achievers. He died in Atlantic Beach, FL in Jan. 1970, leaving one son, Dick. ... See MoreSee Less

5 hours ago  ·