W1GAC SK

[W1DAN]

Hi all:

George W1GAC passed away Thursday night after a long illness.

If I get more info I will post it here.

He had a good carreer with RCA and served in WW2. After WW2 he had a radio/TV service business and for a short time worked at WKOX radio.

In the early 1950's he designed and built the Mighty-Mo and Mighty Mite mobile transcievers in QST. He originated the Old Buzzard Net.

Long live the Mighty-Mo and the Old Buzzard net on 3.945. Oh, and women drivers!

73
Dan
W1DAN

[WA3VJB]

Dan,
I am very sorry to hear this, but knew the time was coming.

It's a real sense of loss as I listen to George expressing care and concern about another "old timer" that he had been talking with about ten years ago.

http://www.amwindow.org/audio/mov/w1gac.mov

George would probably have been in his early 80s when this sound clip was recorded, so it's all the more melancholy that he should be talking about somebody HE considered old.


"We want to hang on to people like that as long as we can." -- W1GAC

[W1DAN]

Paul:

Yes, as the audio states he was talking about Paul W1ECO who is still around and active. Cool!

Thanks for posting the photo. That is him on his kitchen table rig. 5 watts I believe and very effective.

a few years ago, you remember I interviewed him onto tape for you. I am happy I did that and have a CD of the interview, along with photos I took. It'll all eventually end up on this board for people to enjoy.

73
Dan
W1DAN

[WA3VJB]

Yes Dan, I always felt especially close to George and we never were able to talk often enough, or for as long as I would have wished.

I had sent him a portable tape deck about ten years ago, asking that he please allow me to get some of his wonderful storytelling down on tape.

Even then, his mood and spirit had started to show the effects of accumulated health problems, and I was never able to reach him by telephone to do what amounted to an interview.

You kindly responded to my request to go visit George not only to check in on him, but to do the same kind of documenting that you did with your family members in years past.

I know it shall be more than just the two of us who will see these recordings as precious, and a way to hang on to something special: our memory of someone we have lost.

[W2VW]

George was an honest to goodness nice person. I hope the hearse driver isn't a young lady.

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Sorry to hear this. George was a fixture on 75 meter AM. He was always interesting and colorful, and had an excellent memory. Unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to talk with him in the last few years. He will be missed.

Farewell George Abraham Charlie.

[k4kyv]

We'll all certainly miss hearing him.  I don't think he has been on the air for quite a while, at least not during the evening hours when I could hear him.  I seem to recall that he was ancient, even when I used to talk to him on 160, 15-20 years ago.  I met him in person once at one of the ham radio auctions when I used to live in MA.

I would be delighted to know that I was going to live to his age, with his clarity of mind right up to the end.

[wb1aij]

This is a shame; George is among the first AM QSOs I ever made after getting my ticket in 1976. There was a net on 3945 in the late morning and George, Norby, Irb, and a few others that I can't recall at the moment used to check in daily. He set a good example of how a Ham Radio Operator should conduct himself on the air & I am honored to have known him. Very sad.

[wa1knx]

its a shame, but he was really old as I remember. I asked about
him a few years ago if he'd been on the air.
 w one god awful comotion was phonetics I heard used a few
times. rest in peace george.

[W1DAN]

Hi all:

More info:

There will be no wake as he did not want one. There will be a small gathering at McCarthy Funeral Home near Lincoln and Concord streets in Framingham Tuesday sometime between 11 am and 11:45AM, then a burial at St. Stephen's in Saxonville (Framingham). If you are planning to attend, it would be good to call them and get particulars.

George was 91 years old, a great achievement in my opinion. He had Colon cancer which was found within the last month. George passed away after being moved from Norwood hospital to a retirement home in Natick, MA. They moved him Thursday and he passed away Thursday evening.

I'll get audio and photos in the amfone archives eventually.

73,
Dan
W1DAN

[Bacon, WA3WDR]

I heard George many times.  I remember one morning we all did old buzzard voices, and he was highly amused.

I hate to see guys like George passing away.

[WA1GFZ]

I for one found myself agreeing with George's political views.
He was a wise old man who could build an 813 rig.

[N3DRB The Derb]

talked with him many times when I was on in the 80's. They seem to be going faster these days. 

[The Slab Bacon]

"Old Buzzard George"  was truely a gentleman on the air! I used to really enjoy him chiming in on 3885 in the wee hours of the morning. He was always a kind gentleman! He always had a big signal with his "829B modulated by a pair of 807s" home brew rig.

"W One George Abraham Charlie from the town of Frammingham in the state of taxachusetts" You will be surely missed!

I havent heard him on for a very long time, and was hoping that he was well. Old Buzzard George is another of the true icons of AM.  God bless and Godspeed, George.

                                                                                     The Slab Bacon 

[wb1aij]

This thread reminds me of a movie I saw a few years ago called "Frequency." It was about a New York Police Officer who still lived in his boyhood house that used to belong to his deceased father who was a New York Firefighter. One day he was cleaning out a closet & found his dads ham radio rig & "hooked it up" (the antenna was still on the roof)
Anyway he ended up talking with his deceased dad over the radio. Great movie; I won't tell anymore in case someone wants to rent it. Anybody see this one.

[WA1GFZ]

Yup I saw it.

[W2JBL]

     i had heard of his passing on the air recently, but had no comfirmation until now. while i am deeply saddend by his loss, he led a very full life, and was truly a Great American. George was one of my first AM contacts, a friend, and mentor of many years. my father also knew him well, and may have known him during the war, i'm not sure.

    does anybody have a record of his military service? i beleive he served in the Pacific , and may have participated in many of the landings in the Phillipines that my father was involved in, including Leyte Bay in October 1944.

     73 to you George where ever your are, hopefully cuttin' a mean rug with some babe way up there to the sound of a smokin' big band...you will be missed.

DE KD2XA

[WA1GFZ]

My Dad registered in the WW2 memorial maybe George is there.
It is pretty cool if you know any buzzards who are still around.
My Dad sent them pictures of himself and his brother a Iwo Jima Marine who died years ago.
Chris my Dad was in that area late '44 and was supposed to drive a landing craft when they hit the beach in Japan.
Good thing he missed that party thanks to a couple big flash burns from a B29.

[W2JBL]

Frank- your father was lucky to miss Leyte Bay even if he did get burned. my dad watched helpless as Halsey's fleet sailed off in search of a decoy fleet while the real Jap fleet came around the corner and started shooting the hell out of everybody. he landed his cargo and split, mostly in one peice except for the hearing in one ear. i'll check out the WWII vet's registry you mentioned for more about OB George. 

[Vortex Joe - N3IBX]

I haven't talked to George in sometime, but always enjoyed having a QSO with him. He was a prominent figure on AM and will be missed by everyone who knew him.

Joe Cro N3IBX

[W1LC]

Just this week I learned that we lost a classic, old-time AM buzzard from New England, George Mouridian, W1GAC, reportedly at 91 years of age.  That ol' boy saw some changes in his lifetime!  Like many who've already posted here, I too was very saddened to learn of his passing.  I was aware that his health had been in a bad decline over the last several months or longer.  I had several QSOs with George on 3.945 Megacycles AM in the am, and the subject of my callsign's former (and original) holder would always come up.  George knew Herman Sanborn (first licensed as 1LC in 1926, then W1LC in 1928 until Dec. 1997 when he died at 89) from way, way back--when Herman lived in Shrewsbury, MA on Beacon Street.  I'd always chuckle to myself once ol' George would wind up in re-telling the story of how then young Herman was crossing the street in Shrewsbury one day as a "womin driva" struck him and knocked him butt-over-teakettle right there in the road.  As George would also recall, "Herman's brotha, Orrin (who was also a ham), really gave him hell for getting hit after he saw that he was basically O.K."  Now we can more fully appreciate that there may have existed those bad "wimmin drivas" through George's ealier life too, not just of recent! ;-)

George told me that Herman's original QSL card had a large, colorful rooster on it, and Herman would use the phonetics "Worcester's One Loud Caller"--W1LC.  He was going to look for one for me in his attic where he said he stored many old QSLs, but he was never able to do so as his health declined.  Funny though, W1LC's daughter, Nancy, let me look through the old Worcester homestead just before it was sold and I actually found that fb card of Herman's with the rooster on it!  How cool is that?  George also mentioned more than once that he was glad Herman's call sign was kept here in New England, especially by someone who knew him, instead of going out to CA or some such non-1-land area.  I really appreciated him saying that.

GAC didn't like President George W. Bush, or Republicans in general perhaps, so he and I never discussed politics in any detail on the air, given my conservative/Christian values and beliefs, and long GOP background.  Still, I respected this talented and unique ol' timer and will surely miss his voice and fb stories of old.

Rest in peace, W1GAC, and hope to see you upstairs on that fine day!  I thought the ham post above (KD2XA ?) did a fine job describing ol' George "cuttin' up a rug upstairs with some cute babe to the swinging sound of a big band".  That was nice!!  We're really going to miss this "greatest generation" on the air and elsewhere across our Republic.

Dana George Reed, W1LC
Spencer, Massachusetts

[WA3VJB]

Nice profile Dana, glad you took the time to write it.
I could hear him telling the story, how about that !!

Authentic stuff there.

[WA1GFZ]

Wow, George liked the MAFIA I thought he was Italian.....

My cheap ass conservative views get closer to George's as I get older and wiser.

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

You hate women drivers?

Wow, George liked the MAFIA I thought he was Italian.....

My cheap ass conservative views get closer to George's as I get older and wiser.

[WA1GFZ]

Gee come to think of it they do tend to bother me.
Take for instance the bimbo in her lexus this morning thinking I should stop dead for her wanting to cut me off while she talks on her phone
which is an offense here in Ct. Heck she was only 2 lanes away and I was doing 30.

I'm am teaching my daughter to drive right, and hope it sinks in.