Frank Follweiler K2SQM – VE1SQM

Frank was a machinist for the RCA Corporation in Camden, New Jersey. He purchased a cottage at Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia, in 1950. Peggy’s Cove is one of the prominent tourist attractions in Nova Scotia, and Frank and his wife Marie, a school teacher and Amateur Radio operator (WA2HSN), spent as much time there as possible. This was back when the taxes on his cottage were fifty-three cents per annum.

Frank joined the Halifax Amateur Radio Club shortly after he purchased the cottage. The antenna on Frank’s place produced some interesting entries in their Guest Book. Marie passed away several years before Frank. She had been quite ill the last couple of years she and Frank spent at the cottage. After Marie died, Frank and his old alley cat, as he called his old orange tomcat, spent their summers at the cabin together. Frank and Marie did not have a family, and when Frank died, he left the cottage and all of the furnishings, including his radio gear and some money, to the Halifax Amateur Radio Club.

The cottage was sold, and all this money has been invested by the club, making HARC one of the better-off clubs in the country. To sum Frank up in one sentence, it would simply be that he was one fine guy and a great amateur. Frank did not own a broadcast receiver, TV, or telephone and ordered new cars to get them without a broadcast receiver. He died at his home in Camden doing what he liked best. He had just signed off from a QSO with his best amateur friend.

The Halifax Amateur Radio Club 1933 – 2008 By Spurgeon G. “Spud” Roscoe – VE1BC