John Kakstys, W2FNT

[wa2zdy]

If you lived in northern or central NJ during your years of hamming, you probably know John FNT.  Many a new ham found his first Novice rig in John's basement over the years.  John had rows of shelves of every rig you could imagine in his basement and on Saturday mornings the place was packed.

John entered a nursing home yesterday and I was able to visit him today.  He's in good spirits and was talking about his days as a high speed CW op during WW2.  For beng 88 years old he's in darn fine shape. 

I thought anyone who knew him would be interested in knowing this.

[The Slab Bacon]

If this is the fellow that I think he is, he is also a regular at just about every local hamfest. He is also an honest seller and a genuine nice guy. He was always at just about every hamfest in the Baltimore area. I have bought stuff from him in the past. I never knew that he was that old. I hope his stay in the nursuing home is only temporary, and not permanent.
                                                          The Slab Bacon

[wa2zdy]

I don't know if he went to festers that far away or not.  But he sure did get to all the local ones, back when we had them anyway.

And no, I don't think this is temporary but who knows?  He's in fine shape but again, he's 88 now.  He was proud to tell several of us who visited him the other day that he's been licensed 73 years.  And I remembered from the monthly sale sheet he had that it did indeed say across the top "W2FNT since 1933." 

[Pete, WA2CWA]

Sorry to hear about John. Use to see him at all the Northeast hamfests. Once on a business trip to Charlotte, NC, I changed my return flight from Sat to Sun, to visit the Shelby, NC hamfest. Wandering the hamfest, I found John set up there. He also attended a number of hamfests eaqch year in MD, VA, PA, NJ, NY, and probably a few in the New England area.

[k4kyv]

Let's hope that he recovers and can get out of that nursing home soon.

To me, it would be extremely frustrating to be confined to a nursing home or even a better quality "asisted living" facility, while retaining a sound mind.  I would still want to operate my station, even if I couldn't physically work on it any more.

I'm sure most facilities are "antenna-prohibited" sites, and they would frown on radio gear set up in the room.  The inmates are probably lucky to be able to get access to a computer with high-speed internet.

Just hope that when the time comes I croak suddenly and unexpectedly, rather than be forced  to rot away in one of those urine-perfumed institutions.  You could hire a competent fulltime live-in caretaker for much less than what even the lowest cost nursing home charges per month.  Unfortunately, whatever insurance or government assistance is available, would rather pay out $100,000 a year to keep a patient in a nursing home, than less than half that amount, to pay for fulltime assistance in the person's own home.

Maybe, according to their way of thinking, the person will become so depressed in the nursing home that they will die in a year or two, whereas if they could continue living at home they might hang on for many more years, so the state and private agencies figure they are saving money in the long run.

The sword of Charlemagne the just
is ferric oxide, known as rust.
The tusks of mastodons in brawl
are now billiard balls.
Great Caesar's bust is on the shelf...
And I don't feel so good myself.

-author unknown