South Canterbury man remembered for enthusiasm of ham radio

source:www.stuff.co.nz

It was a nod to the future for the Timaru man, who would go on to learn Morse Code, and be made a life member of the South Canterbury Amateur Radio Club.

George died at The Croft, Timaru, on July 4, aged 87.

She said most days he would eat dinner, watch the news, then disappear into his shed at the back of their property, called the Radio Shack.

The pair met in 1954 at a Saturday night dance at Timaru’s Scottish Hall on Barnard St, married about 18 months later and had five children – four girls and one boy.

“It was probably love at first sight. We were both the same height - short. We just got on together.”

His wife of 65 years, Noeleen​ Boorer said George grew up on the corner of Timaru’s Rolleston St and Otipua Rd, and his “cobber” lived in Hassall St and they managed to communicate by radio.

As he got older he completed a Morse Code test and built up his radio equipment, using the call sign ZL3PN.

He also helped with Search and Rescue communications.

While building their house, the couple lived in the shed at the back of the property. It was a home they have lived in ever since.

Most of the garden was used for keeping chooks, and growing vegetables which George tended in summer before heading off to the Radio Shack.

One of his daughters Jennette​ Ritchie remembers walking home from school for cooked dinners at lunchtime and George would drop her at school on the back of his Matchless motorbike.

She recalls how her father’s radio transmissions interfered with the TV and the children would get frustrated as static or wavy white lines would appear, ruining their viewing.

His working life from the age of 18 was as an electrician at Smithfield Alliance Group until his retirement at the age of 62.