Jerome L. Hartke, W1ERJ SK HARTKE, Jerome Luther "Jerry" Age 87, passed away peacefully, surrounded by his loving family on January 30, 2020 in Worcester, MA. Jerry loved his family unconditionally, was a generous friend to many and was a tireless storyteller. He leaves his beloved wife Marilyn of Westborough and devoted daughters Linda of Baltimore, MD, Janet (Mark Bowser) of Dover, MA, and Sue (Anna Bowman) of Carnation, WA, along with loving nieces and nephews. "Papa" was cherished by his grandchildren Lexie and William of Somerville and Boston, MA. He was preceded in death by his parents and daughter Nancy Ann. He was born on October 26, 1932 in Wichita, KS to Reinhold C. and Agnes Ninneman Hartke, and was raised in Herington, KS, baptized and confirmed at St. Paul's Lutheran Church, was an Eagle Scout and graduated from Herington High School in 1950. He was active in amateur radio as W0AMG and W1ERJ. He received his BSEE in 1955 and his MS in Physics in 1956, both from Kansas State University. After serving in the U.S. Army Signal Corps, he received his PhD in Physics from the University of Illinois in 1961. He met Marilyn Morton at K-State and they married on June 3, 1956 at the Wamego United Methodist Church. They were married 63 years -- finding joy together, nurturing a family, and making a lifetime of wonderful memories traveling the world with family and friends. Jerry's Christian faith was a central part of his life and he loved to study the Bible. He and Marilyn were active members of St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church of Sudbury, MA and more recently of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church of Westborough, MA. His favorite pastimes were spending time with his children and grandchildren, fishing for salmon and bass at Castle Island Camps in Maine, tying traditional salmon flies, playing bridge, and building a digital family archive. He and Marilyn lived in Sudbury, MA for 40 years before retiring to Lancaster in 2005 and then to Westborough in 2017. Prior to his retirement, Jerry was first employed as a senior research scientist at Xerox Corporation, Webster, NY, later as research group leader at Ion Physics Corporation, Burlington, MA, and then as technical director and general manager of KEV Electronics, Wilmington, MA. Jerry founded KSW Electronics in Burlington, MA and served as its president until its acquisition by Loral, serving as Vice-President and General Manager of its Semiconductor Division, after which he founded Media Sciences, Inc. and was its president until his retirement in 2011. A Memorial Service will celebrate Jerry's life at 11 am, Saturday, February 15th at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Westborough, MA with interment at a later date in Wamego, KS. Memorial contributions, in lieu of flowers, may be made to Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, 183 W. Main St., Westborough, MA 01581 or www.goodshepherdcares.org Messages and photos of remembrance may be shared at www.westboroughfuneralhome.com View the online memorial for Jerome Luther "Jerry" HARTKE Published in The Boston Globe on Feb. 2, 2020 https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/b...px?n=jerome-luther-hartke-jerry&pid=195246795 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ALUMNI LETTERS From Jerome Hartke, W1ERJ -- November 28, 2003: I attended K-State (then Kansas State College) from 1950 to 1956, graduating with a BSEE and an MS in Physics. At that time my call letters were WØAMG, now W1ERJ. I recently visited the club web site, and found photos and letters of interest. Photo 1 was taken in the ham club room located in the basement of the Military Science building. I am standing (brush cut and patterned T-shirt). Seated is Wilbur Goll, WØDEL, and Bill Schrenk, our great faculty advisor. The second photo was taken at the same time and shows myself and Wilbur seated, Bill standing, and the old BC-610 final, topped by the antenna tuner, in the far corner. Information on the alumni letters page is interesting. The following comments may provide additional input. K-State was a key location during the July 1951 flood because its elevation provided dry land while much of the city was underwater. WØDEL traffic included direct ham-band communications with Air Force flights from Chanute Field, Illinois that air-dropped medicines, blankets, and other supplies onto K-State. I was attending summer school during the summer of 1951. I, and others, operated WØQQQ from the old student union, handling continuous traffic between flood victims and their families, together with lots of other traffic. I also waded through parts of flooded Manhattan, carrying an Army handi-talkie, for the purpose of assuring that all residences had been evacuated. I recall worrying that hot power lines might be submerged nearby, but fortunately that was not the case. I was also Chief Engineer of the student FM station located across the hall from the college AM station. We first played music, but I later shut it down, and donated tubes from the transmitter to Manhattan police who had exhausted their stock of spares due to constant use of equipment designed for only intermittent use. The shutdown upset a few faculty members and students who envisioned this as their moment of journalistic glory, maybe even a Pulitzer Prize, but emergency police communications were sustained. Manhattan's commercial AM station, KMAN, was located north of town in an area covered by the 1951 flood. An Army deuce-and-a-half (2.5 ton) truck was commandered, driven through water to the transmitter site, backed through a wall, and the transmitter was loaded onto the truck. After emerging from the flood, the truck was parked on the K-State campus just outside KSAC's studio. Wire was strung between two nearby towers that had previously been used by KSAC, and the antenna was connected to the KMAN transmitter, still on the truck. Audio feed came from the KSAC studio that was one story above the truck, and KMAN was operational. The Kansas City FCC office requested organ music while they certified that the frequency was within tolerance, after which the community received news and notices from KMAN/Portable until the emergency ended. Jerome Hartke, W1ERJ https://www.k-state.edu/ksuarc/alumniletters.html
