Greenkeyers--

I have just learned from the list posting of the passing of George Hutchison.  I have known George, W7TTY (ex K6LVM, ex W7KSJ), for over 65 years.  We were high school classmates in the late 50's.  He and I had similar interests in ham radio and both of us became Teletype aficionados.  This particular interest still fascinates me to this day.

We both served in the nuclear submarine Navy.  In fact we were in the same squadron (squadron 15) operating out of Guam and home ported in Pearl Harbor.  Both of us qualified in submarines on diesel boats--he on the USS Aspro and I on the USS Dogfish.  He went to nuclear power school and I went to a weapons school, both involving significant expertise in electronics.

I got my first model 15 from him in 1962.  Unfortunately I had to let it go a number of years later and I regret doing that because it was the cleanest well-running 15 I have ever encountered.  Later, during Project "Mouse", I got my first model 28 courtesy of the activities of George and Irv Hoff, W6FFC (SK), and their efforts at getting them from Western Electric at their San Leandro, CA, plant.  George and I would sometimes share equipment and parts for our collection of Teletype gear and I still have my "Mouse" machine.  We would trade service tips and other information on maintaining machines over the years.

Career and other responsibilities made our interactions less frequent than we both would have liked, but we would sometimes have telephone chats that would last 2 - 3 hours.  I visited him and his wife, Paula, in Sequim some time back.  We had a great time playing around in his "collection" of Teletype stuff.  George did a lot of work rescuing Teletypes from being disposed of and then trying to get them in good homes for new people to become a part of the Green Keys group of enthusiasts.  He and Bill Bytheway, K7TTY, were instrumental in getting the web site RTTY.com set up and running.  This web site has been a big help to lot of newcomers to RTTY.  I believe that Bill got his first machine from George when they were living in Santa Clara, CA.

On a personal level, George was a caring person especially to those who were at some disadvantage in life.  He often helped sometimes at the expense of his personal well being.  I am glad to have known and interacted with him over the years and am grateful for the experience.

I will miss George greatly since he was a very long time friend and we had a lot of mutual interests and experiences.  My condolences to his wife and son. So long, George.

George Engeman, W6BN, Gardnerville NV