I made a list of people within
the First
Degree of Separation from me who have died over the years
since I became aware. Not counting early on ancestors such as parents
and grandparents, and not counting others whom I have yet to remember
at this writing, twenty-six people have died out of my first circle,
from Steven Sloper, at about 13—a Boy Scout in my group from the early
1960s—to Susan Rice, my sister of ten years younger than me, and David
Kirwan first son of my mother's kid-sister; my cousin, and latest,
Marty Engstrom at 86, Transmitter Engineer at WMTW CH8 and Guy
Gosselin, Chief Observer at The Mount Washington Observatory.
Then there are the non-Human people: Sara(h) La Gata and Hurricane
Hazel-Rah.
1962 - 1992 - ? - 2002 - 2007 - 2009 - 2010 - 2011 - 2013 - 2014
- 2015 - 2019 - 2020 - 2023 - 2024 - 2025
1 1
1 1
1 2
2
1 2
5 3
1 1
2 1
1
Who am I
missing?
1962 - Steven Sloper, at about 13 in
Billerica MA—a Boy Scout in my group from the early 1960s.
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1992 - Rosemary Howard Turner, West
Ossippe NH, author of Mascots
of Mount Washington
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???? - Eileen Loring, Massachusetts,
friend, co-leader on 50-Miler.
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2002 - Casey Hodgdon, Gorham NH, friend,
OO, OH
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2007 - Manjula Cook, Franklin MA, formerly
of Erode Tamil Nadu India, wife of my good friend Dick Cook.
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2009 - Dave Goodwin, Salem NH, friend,
hiker, traveller with me, ham radio operator N1CMD. Dave,
who had so many stones so often that we monikered him: "Stones". His
doctor once told him that if he was going to continue to eat so much
ice cream then he should also drink more beer. Eventually he drank
himself to death.
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2009 - Matt Houseal, TeXas, friend, OAE,
military, ER Doctor, killed in action.
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2010 - Roger Brown, Zephyrhills FL,
cousin, friend, ham radio operator KA1IIP. And his wife Joan
Brown. Joan and Roger, both Browns in their own right, are both cousins
in different branches of my tree.
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2011 - Bobby Loring, Colorado, friend,
co-leader on 1970 50-Miler.
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2013 - Ted Everett, Concord NH, friend,
ham radio operator W1ALE
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2013 - Sara(h) 2001-2013: Sara(h) La
Gata conMigo Booger Mesquite La Rubia Frankencat Sinte Ikusheya Cat o'
Mine Tales 11-11 TacoCat. Her name was a storey in itself.
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2014 - Mack Beal, Jackson NH, friend,
mentor, ham radio operator, W1PNR
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2014 - Gordon L (not to be confused with
my brother Gordon S) Datil NM, friend, employer, survivalist. We built
solar arrays together.
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2014 - Richard P. Cook, Franklin MA, good
friend, mentor, benefactor of Manjula's Children Charity.
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2014 - Theodore Brooks Oxton, 7 Jul
1945-19 Feb 2014 Lowell MA, brother.
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2014 - Glen Alan Oxton, 24 Dec 1947-28 Apr
2014 Lowell MA, brother.
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2015 - Susan Kathleen Rice (nee Oxton),
Nashua NH, sister.
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| 2015 - David Kirwan, first son of my
mother's kid-sister; my cousin. |
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2015 - Robert Loring, friend, co-leader on
1970 50-mile hike.
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2019 - Gordon Scott Oxton, 25 Jan 1944 -
31 July 2019, brother.
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c.a 2020 - Betty Gosselin - Gorham NH,
Mount Washington Obs
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2023 - Dennis Ahern 1943-2023 Boyhood best
special friend, fellow Scout, and family genealogist.
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2023 - Nita
Larronde - The Trail Angel of the Toaster House in Pie Town, New
Mexico, a hiker hostel along the Continental Divide Trail, has gone
away to be with the rest of the angels and we have to carry on without
her. Every time one of my extended family passes away I am reminded of
my own mortality and lack of preparedness for that eventuality. Rest in
peace Nita and thank you for showing me the Way.
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Another of my
hero-class and early mentor friends bites the dust.
Marty Engstrom, Transmitter Engineer for 38 years at
WMTW Channel 8 in The Land of The World's Worst Weather, died
Thursday 20230104 at his home in Fryeburg. He was 86 years old.
Marty worked at the WMTW transmitter facility on
Mount Washington in Gorham, New Hampshire. Known for his weather
reports from Mount Washington, he delivered weather conditions with a
grin in his thick Maine accent.
I had dinner many times with Marty Engstrom and
Donny Disconnect at the WMTW TV transmitter. Marty got me started
on the World's Worst Weather (...the original WWW?...) slide show
circuit back in the BC days of Kodak Carousel 35mm Slide Projectors.
Marty was a great cook and turned out many a fine Sunday
evening dinner.
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Another Hero Blown Away: Guy Gosselin
1933-2024
Click on image for readable copy.
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HRH Hurricane Hazel-Rah
28January2013-16August2025
Hurricane Hazel-Rah prefurred music of the early days of wireless
broadcasting as well as Cat Stevens, The Alley Cats Doo-Wop,
Aristocats, Duetto
buffo di due gatti (Humorous Duet for Two Cats), and of course the
musical "Cats". Her hero was Busterfur Jones In White Spats, who
is of course the father of Puss in Boots. But HHR was only one with a
Ham Radio call, me0w.
HRH HHR was most at home on 40 meters where her favourite mode of
operation was CW (Cat-Whisker sending & receiving), this XYK has
worked all the lower 48 states during her 12 years of hamming it up on
the road in /The Cat Drag'd Inn/. For portable operation her tail
doubled as a quarter-wave vertical antenna for the 440mHz UHF band. Her
Ham call sign, me0w, is now inherited by Ostensible Orca.
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Michael [Barefoot Mike]
Schrody, 1958-2026, passed away after a long illness of cardiac arrest
in hospital at 0128 Friday 16 january 2026.
Born back east, matured in Arizona, Field Service
Engineer by trade, Wizard by temperament, Amateur Radio Licensee
(KD7TKQ), and Ordained Minister. Michael’s tagline was “No Shirt, No
Shoes, No Gods, No Worries.”
He carried a letter from the Health Department
attesting that there was no law prohibiting bare feet. Going barefoot
was a way of life for Mike, a religion if you will—he sometimes used
that argument with store managers who complained about his dirty feet.
“My feet are cleaner than your shoes.”
Loquacious, forgiving, opinionated—especially in
matters of coffee and clothing—Mike was a hoarder who gave freely of
his time and his stuff.
A worthy friend who will be sorely missed.
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Tony Marchetti when not on the Ice lived
in Driggs Idaho where I visited him at The Dead Roach Ranch. At McMurdo
he was head Carpenter and at Black Island he was the Manager. Aside
from memories of working with Tony in the Carp Shop at McMurdo the
cutting board in The Cat Drag'd Inn was made by him. We had been
talking about my bus which was waiting for me back in NH. I was
describing the galley. A few weeks later that Winter Tony presented me
with this fine custom made cutting board made of five pieces of
different woods laminated together. Still in service 28 years later, I
think of Tony every time I mince a mushroom. (photo of Tony at Black
Island by JimMastro)
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Greetings
Virtual Travellers: 
I do not know what I may
appear to the world; but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy
playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a
smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great
ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me. 