July 12, 2005

In the Presence of an Angel

She was the last one of a long list of contacts I'd made on April 24, 1993. From Hawaii that morning and afternoon I'd chatted with people in Sacramento, Houston, Ontario, Akron, Canberra, Niigata, Hobart, Yakota Air Force Base and, finally, Auckland.

Shirley Freeman was the last of 52 that day. Our 13-minute radio conversation between New Zealand and Hawaii was poignant enough to remember 12 years later.

Before me, she had a short chat with another Hawaiian callsign on the Big Island. No dice as she was looking for someone to make a local telephone call on Oahu. They ended their chat and I chimed in.

After short introductions and exchanging signal reports she got down to it. I was to call an old friend of hers, she told me, to "see if he was still amongst the land of the living." I didn't think about that last bit, but I soon found out how serious she was. I obliged and started dialing.

"He passed away yesterday," Gladys Conway said 12 years ago of her husband Walter.

I choked back my silence to quickly offer condolences. The two couples had been friends since the late 1970s. Gladys understood and offered a thank you that I subsequently transmitted back to Auckland. After I hung up I went back to the radio.

We chatted on air for another nine or 10 minutes talking about Walter and getting acquainted ourselves until the band started to fade. We said our goodbyes and three days later I handwrote a letter. She answered it about a month after.

Her typed and hand-signed letter, on a sky blue envelop-paper, striped with alternating red and blue hashes, is marked air mail: "Par Avion Aerogramme." It sits on my desk by my left hand.

I did one of those Google searches one does to find a long lost friend. One hit showed up and read...

Silent Key... Shirley Freeman, ZL1BI, Passed away on August 3, 2004, in Auckland, New Zealand. You will be missed. 73s.

We had a conversation 12 years ago and exchanged one letter each. But one knows when he's in the presence of an angel.

- Rich