Gary Atkins, WØCGR was born on 11 April 1940 in New York City, New York. His family moved to Colorado where he grew up. He was married to Rene, WBØVVD for 43 years.

Gary joined FOC (#1742) in January 2001. Like many of us he obtained his “ticket” as a teenager.

Gary was a very accomplished guitar player. It was in his genes. His uncle, Chet Atkins (SK), WA4CZD and later W4CGP (certified guitar picker) is an iconic guitarist who was known as, “Mr. Guitar”. Chet won 14 Grammy Awards and is in both the Country Music Hall of Fame as well as the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Gary’s father, Jimmy Atkins was a member of the original Les Paul trio. With those genes it was only natural that Gary occasionally taught guitar to motivated students.

His professional career was in electronics and broadcast engineering. He retired as the Chief Engineer of Instructional Services at Colorado State University which conferred an honorary Master’s Degree in Electronics Engineering on him. During the Viet Nam conflict he served his country as a high-speed CW operator in the Army Security Agency.

Gary; Ink, N4OO (SK) and Don, N4UB delighted many at the W4FOC dinners with their guitar picking. WØCGR was an accomplished Dxer with 311 confirmed on CW. He had one of those fist’s that I could listen to for hours. I think his dexterity and musician’s ear helped him perfect his fist. Although it is now silent it will not be forgotten.
Gary enjoyed Christmas (2012) with Rene and late in the day suddenly passed away. He had been fighting Cancer. In addition to Rene, he is survived by a daughter, Lynda and son, Jay and five grand-children.

A Celebration of Life Reception honouring Gary was held on 21 April 2013 at Colorado State University in Boulder, Colorado.