A Great Geek Gone

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Some of you may have seen my sad, pathetic Tweets last week when I received the news that my older brother had been found dead on a cliff off a hiking trail in California. He was an expert hiker, in great shape and it was a total shock to have him suddenly gone. The guy that was responsible for my geek-ness is now leading the way to the final frontier for me too. When I was a little girl he was teaching high school and college, but he always made time for his annoying little sister. He had masters in Physics and in French. With a penchant for building electronics and an unending thirst for knowledge he passed many interests on to me.

My older brother had an electronics lab in our basement. He was building HAM radio equipment and I was helping. “Hand me a purple with 2 wires.” “Get my small needle nose pliers.” You get the idea. He had a thing for rooftops. We were always up there either installing antennas for various projects, or with a telescope to look at the moon and the stars.

He taught me to read. My first word was L-I-F-E. It was on the cover of LIFE magazine. I haven’t seen that mag around that much anymore. He also gave me The Hobbit. Yep, this was the recipe for a geeky girl. He was responsible for all the good things in my life from an early age. Astronomy, astrology, telescopes, LOTR, Narnia, Apple Computers, HAM, anthropology, physics, arcane language, shamanism, Woodstock, St. Francis of Asisi, hiking, the Appalachian Trail, and birds. I was not the only person that had the benefit of his gentle, wise, guidance. He helped many people find information at the University of Maine Library, and as he continued to learn, teach, and observe nature he passed on what he discovered. He also had an extensive nature blog. I’m proud of his three great kids – they are all adults now. I hope that some of his genius lives on in them and his grand kids someday.

One of my brothers retells his memories of the year I was born:

“Long before we ever heard of GPS, satellite phones or ESPN, a truck pulled up to our house, the year was 1961. I was worried at the time about how many home runs Mickey Mantle was going to hit but brother Frank had planned a project called “Moonbounce 1961.” Frank had pipes, pipebenders and other materials necessary to build a satellite dish, delivered to our house, with the intention of bouncing a signal off the moon.

Long before any 3rd world nation dreamed about missile testing, we actually had these tests going on in our back yard. Cape Canaveral was set up in our father’s garden and Frank was firing projectiles into the night sky. This went on until our neighbor, poor old Mr. Hurley, complained to our mother, and sadly Frank’s launching pad was shut down.

Long before we ever heard of e-mail, Frank was a HAM radio operator, fluent in Morse code, one of the many languages he had embraced. I still remember his call letters “K1MJC.” The custom was to send your uniquely designed postcard, with your call letters, to people you had contacted. Our walls were covered with these postcards from people from all over the world. Our basement was filled with tube testers and short wave radios, and we always needed to know “Grenwich Mean Time.” We had transmitters, diodes and that miracle of modern technology… the transistor. We hung antennas further and further from our roof into the woods, because the longer and wider they were, the further his signal could go. We always heard Frank’s footsteps on our roof.”

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