Cheers,
J

Unfortunately, I did not get many of these stories told directly from my grandfather, but 2nd hand from my dad and his sisters, and some from things granddad had written down. He retired from RCA in 1957, and I was only 6 years old then. I and my sister lived with my parents in Barnegat, NJ, and for the last couple years of my grandfather’s carreer he had been transferred to Marion, MA, after they decommissioned the old Tuckerton wireless station (now Mystic Islands residential developement) in 1955. Once he retired, he moved back into my great grandparents’ home (which had been vacant in the years after their death in 1945 & 1946) in Pennsylvania. So the end result was I didn’t get to see them very often, as they also traveled a lot during the summers, mostly cross country trips out to San Luis Obispo to visit my grandmother’s family. Also, he as a very stern and somewhat remote man. He was also big on involvement with the Masons, which is something I’ve never shown interest in. My grandfather passed away 30 years ago this year, in 1978 at age 86. I did not get much chance to see him in those later years, because first of all, my parents divorced in 1960, and a few years later my mother remarried and we moved with her to my stepdad’s home area upstate NY, near Saratoga, so by the time I reached high school age, I was not in close contact my father’s extended family for several years. Then in 1977, I moved West to Phoenix, where I’ve been ever since. In those first few years in AZ, I didn’t have the means to travel much, so I wasn’t able to even attend his funeral.

Why? Well, here’s the story: My grandfather, who grew up in NE Pennsylvania, and after graduating with a BSEE from Penn State U in 1915, went to work for GE & later, after serving in the US Army in France during WWI, after returning to civilian life transferred into the newly formed RCA corporation as a radio engineer. Meanwhile, my grandmother, Stella Brown, who was then a 25 year old school teacher from San Luis Obispo, CA, had taken a job at the Kahuku Elementary school.

The year was 1920, and RCA was in charge of the Kahuku wireless station. That year they decided to install a new Alexanderson Alternator at the station, and sent my then-unmarried, 28 year old grandfather to oversee the installation of the new alternator. That was a six month assignment, and after completion, by which time he had courted and proposed to my grandmother, he returned to the mainland with his new bride to become the manager in charge of the Tuckerton wireless station in Tuckerton, NJ, where he raised a family of four children, including my late father. My grandfather stayed with RCA for a 40 year career, and I have in my possession several mementoes, including his 1915 Penn State yearbook, and his 40 year service award from RCA, which is a silver plated engraved Gorham reproduction Paul Revere bowl.

Thanks for a great site! Cheers, hans vles, Middelburg, Holland.