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All,
I have a medical update on Club member Gary Sorensen (K9AIA). Gary has not been well the last couple of weeks and yesterday he was admitted to the hospital in Hereford, TX. This morning he was transferred to the hospital in Amarillo, TX. His nephew Jason is there with him and fielded my call this morning and then when I texted just a bit ago he called me from Gary’s phone. Gary is in a bad way. I am not going to put details here. If you want more information please text or email me.
When Kathy and I met him Gary was in Paris on a consulting contract a number of years ago. He joined the Club, got his Technician ticket and pretty quickly his General. He was, for lack of a better description, an itinerant architect/engineer who worked on contract to help out with big construction jobs. He was here for a Campbell Soup boiler swap and my recollection is that he was here for probably 18 months. When that contract ended he took one in CT where he went to the ARRL HQ and operated W1W and talked with a bunch of us at Steven Lott Smith’s (KG5VK) home station. He also tested and got a perfect score on his Extra exam.
From there he went to Stockton, CA, then to a place (the city escapes me) in GA, then WI and then to Hereford. So, when I said itinerant, I meant itinerant.
Gary and I talk every Sunday morning and when Nestle decided to terminate his contract early on Friday two weeks ago, we talked every couple of days. He told me that he was growing weary of all the travel and hotels and that the Nestle job in Hereford was probably going to be his last one, that he was going to retire. He had planned to start driving on Tuesday a week ago. We had coordinated that he was going to turn his APRS on and I was going to track him to Tulsa where he was going to hang with Jason until he figured out what he was going to do next. On Tuesday I texted and asked if he was on the road and he replied no, not yet, he was feeling under the weather. I kept texting and calling him over the next few days and, increasingly concerned, I started telling him to go and see a doctor. Sunday he told me he was going to go to the urgent care place there in town. On Monday I texted and asked had he gone to the urgent care or ER and he didn’t reply. On Tuesday I texted and asked him was he on the road and he didn’t reply. I called him yesterday (Wednesday) afternoon and he answered the phone and said he was in the ER, they were admitting him, his phone battery was low and that he would call me this morning. When he didn’t call me this morning, I called his phone and Jason answered.
Keep Gary in your prayers. He’s a good dude. Even unable to make our meetings he continued paying dues and highly valued the relationships he had developed with some of us. I will keep you updated as I learn anything more.
73
Phillip Beall (W5EBC)
All,
Last night I received a text from Gary’s nephew that Gary had passed away. Kathy and I are both struggling to process this loss. If there are any other details I will pass them along. I am next headed to add him to our Silent Key (SK) page (link here).
73
Phillip Beall (W5EBC)
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