Topband: VE1ZZ Jack Leahy

[k1zm at aol.com]

Hi All


A few friends have asked about VE1ZZ since he has not been on Topband much lately.


I gave him a call yesterday on the phone and he said he is nearing his 82nd birthday but has been slowed down by age and other things.


He said he has COPD and cannot get around very well these days - antenna work in his woods is no longer possible.


His main AMP is down as is a backup amp and he hopes to get on a little now and then if he can fix one or both.


Hi great wife - OPAL - fell down the cellar stairs not long ago and is slowly recovering at home after a long hospital stay.


I was saddened to hear these things but expected something was amiss over there.






Jack has long been the BEACON here in Canada on the lowbands and his absence has been missed.  He lives about 120 miles to the SE of me here in CANADA.


He was largely responsible for my emigrating to Canada in 2000 and creating VY2ZM here on Prince Edward Island.  Jack once told me "Jeff, Cape Cod is a pretty good location..... but IT IS NOT AS GOOD AS HERE!!  You should come up here and see for yourself." ..And boy was he ever right!


BTW - I noted Opal his wife.

We ALL might wish for a wife like Opal.


When I first met her in 2002, we talked about HAM RADIO and Dx'ing and about how much Jack has been a fixture on the lowbands since the mid 1950's.

What she said I will never forget - as it was memorable:


She said:


"JEFF - WHEN I MARRIED JACK, I KNEW HOW MUCH HE LOVED DX'ING AND HAM RADIO AND I REALIZED THAT THE ***BIGGEST*** MISTAKE I COULD EVER MAKE WOULD BE TO HAVE TRIED TO GET BETWEEN HIM AND HIS LOVE FOR RADIO!!
  IT IS A BIG PART OF OUR LIVES!!!"



Anyway, I thought I might pass on what I knew - sure hope to hear Jack on now and then again soon.


73 JEFF  VY2ZM