>From the number of tributes/anecdotes posted about Dale, it's obvious he
touched a lot of lives in the contesting fraternity.
I have known W7CFJ since the late 50s/early 60s, when we were competitors
in a few events, and had occasional high speed chats on 40m CW. Another
callsign silly he pulled was in a YL/OM CW contest in the ealy 60s. I was
serious about this little contest then, and when tuning across 20m, I heard
this supposed YL, WA7??? (can't remember the call) CQing for OMs at about
50 wpm. We exchanged contest info, and I sez, Dale?? He said "Be quiet
OM, CQ OM, WA7???".
Dale made possible a major career change me. He hired me as a sales
engineer for Tektronix in the early 70s during my first furlough from TWA.
In the 80s/early 90s I again worked for him under the TEK flag. He
orchestrated some great sales meetings in the great southwest and CA. Our
sales team was mostly hams, and included a few other contesters like Stan
W7NI.
It's scary when a contemporary "dies before his time". I'll miss his wit,
philosophizing, dancing the Texas two-step, and the many other talents and
attributes of K5MM, ... _._
N6RO
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