[SignalOne] SK Eugene R. Chenette, Ph.D N5YJ

[Kipton Moravec]

Thought this may be of interest to this group. Gene was a member of the 
Plano Amateur Radio Klub. I knew him and liked him, but I did not know 
his connection to Signal One until his obituary. The subject never came up.



Eugene R. Chenette, Ph.D
1928-07-14 2014-12-07

Dr. Eugene Richard Chenette of Allen, Texas died peacefully early 
Sunday, December 7, 2014 at the Medical Center of McKinney surrounded by 
loving family; his wife Helen, his daughter Karen and his "little 
sister" Mary Dohlman. He is survived by the love of his life, his wife 
of 63 years, 9 months, and 4 days, Helen Chenette, their daughter Karen 
Chenette, and four grandchildren, Gavin Wright of Gainesville Florida, 
Roy Schmidt of Colorado Springs Colorado, Luke and Alexandra Chenette of 
Plano, Texas, his brother Louis Chenette (Emily) of Indianapolis 
Indiana, his 'sisters' Mary Dohlman, Nancy Smith (Gary) and their Mom 
(his aunt Gertrude Ontjes) and a huge list of very loved nephews, 
nieces, cousins, 2nd cousins, first cousins once removed, etc. He is 
preceded in death by his daughter Maria Chenette, his sister Louise 
Bogart (Howard), his mother Freda Chestnut and father Eugene D. Chenette.

He was born in Waverly, Iowa on July 14, 1928 to Eugene Dow Chenette and 
Freda Ontjes Chenette. He enjoyed his childhood in Charles City, Iowa. 
He graduated from Nashua, Iowa High School in 1946 and then attended 
Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa. He taught school in Stillwater, 
Minnesota where he, after being properly vetted by her uncle Lyman 
Kleinfelter and her mother Femicha, married Helen Marie Anderson. He 
entered the US Air Force and was on active duty for four years during 
the Korean conflict. On leaving the Air Force, he entered the University 
of Minnesota where he completed Bachelor, Master and Ph.D degrees in 
electrical engineering. He taught electrical engineering for a time at 
the University of Minnesota, and was consultant to firms like Bell Labs, 
(etc.) then joined the Engineering faculty at the University of Florida 
in Gainesville where he became a Professor then Department Chair of the 
Department of Electrical Engineering and Assoc. Dean of the College of 
Engineering. He also spent a couple of years at National Science 
Foundation.

In 1990, they moved to Niceville Florida / Eglin Air Force Base to teach 
in the University of Florida graduate engineering programs and where his 
research with Donald Snyder led to innovations in super high-speed 
photography and holography. They moved to Plano in 2001 to be closer to 
their new grandchildren, Luke and Alexandra. His Ph.D. dissertation was 
on noise in junction transistors, an important contribution to 
understanding the physics of semiconductors.

He was a pioneer, leader and innovator in the emerging field of 
transistors, integrated circuits and digital devices. He earned his 
first "ham" radio license in 1948 and avidly pursued this hobby for more 
than 65 years, most recently forming the Aspen Ham Shack with his ham 
friends.

In 1969, he and Dick Ehrhorn became friends and designed, manufactured 
and marketed the SIGNAL-ONE, a new "state of the art" multi-band 
transceiver and are considered by many to be the finest American made 
communications transceiver ever built.

In the past few months he has excitedly mastered his new Flex Radio and 
related software. He was active in Kiwanis in Gainesville Florida, 
Niceville, Florida and the Dallas, Texas area. He loved the fellowship 
and the service and outreach and its mission of improving the world one 
child and one community at a time. He loved reaching out to young people 
and helping them learn; often stopping them on the street or while out 
with his family to dinner and teaching them about proper shoe knots. He 
was always very active in his church communities, improving them one or 
sometimes two at a time. In Gainesville he ran the radio broadcast and 
sound system for the Sunday services, and in Niceville and Plano he and 
Helen were lay Eucharistic ministers. Sensing a need, they founded Prime 
Timers at Christ Church Plano.

The family will receive friends at a visitation and viewing at Allen 
Family Funeral Options in Plano on Wednesday, December 10, 2014 from 
6:00 – 8:00 p.m. Funeral services will be at Christ Church Plano, 4550 
Legacy Dr., Plano, Texas 75074 on Thursday December 11, 2014 at 
11:30a.m. Committal will be at Dallas - Ft. Worth National Cemetery on 
December 17, 2014 at 1:00 p.m. In lieu of flowers donations may be made 
to the Retina Foundation of the Southwest http://retinafoundation.org/