Tom Wrinch VE7AMM, a radio amateur for approximately 60 years, and a well-known and respected teacher in the Shuswap School District, succumbed on March 22, 2017 to the ravages of a longstanding illness dating back to a workplace explosion in Trail while he was still a teenager.

A Celebration of Life was held at the Prestige Inn on April 22.

Tom was active with both the Shuswap Amateur Radio Club and the Salmon Arm Seniors Amateur Radio club for years in this area, driving further than most of us would care to from his home in Eagle Bay.

From the records which I began compiling upon becoming licensed in 1993 up to my “retirement” from club office in 2014, I have listed the following participation of Tom with the clubs.

Field Day Setup, Operation and Cleanup: 1981, 1982, 1997, 2006, 2008 SARC-NORAC, 2012, and 2014.

RAC Winter Contest: 2003

Repeater Support: RNH antenna reinstall 2007; AHR preparation—4 days in 2007; AHR repeater installation 2008; AHR servicing and UHF antenna reinstallation 2009.

CKXR Tower Salvage 2008: 400 feet of commercial tower dismantled and brought into club inventory.

Basic Qualification Course: One of the major instructors in the 2008 and 2011 courses.

Club Activity: Visit to Community Radio Station CKVS.

Annual Christmas Dinner for Amateurs, Friends and Family: A frequent participant in this get-together.
Above all, Tom excelled as a Field -Day Operator: knowledgeable and impassioned, yet unfailingly polite; he loved every minute of it.

We will all miss his cheerful, optimistic, and unflappable nature.

With great affection,
Ron VE7RLE