By Tom Taormina, K5RC

I knew Bill, W5SG, for 50+ years. We met as members of the Texas DX Society. Bill had an innate talent for creating the best of everything he touched. His first big station was all Collins S Line and it looked like a picture from their catalog. Later he dabbled with the KWM380. That was challenging as solid state radios were just hitting the market. He also strived for perfection in CW and in his operating style. That made him an ideal candidate for FOC.

Outside the shack, in his garage, his passion was restoring old classic cars and building hot rods. I watched him toil for months locating original parts so that the restorations would be perfect. His crowning achievement was a Rolls Royce. That took him years to restore. I lost count of how many coats of original paint it took to meet his specifications.

Bill was a senior electrical engineer for the electronics division of Daniel Industries, an oilfield supplier. One day he sent me a job opening for a Quality Assurance Manager position. Since that was my training, I applied and got the position. Working closely with Bill every day was very rewarding. Unfortunately, our boss thought that I should be firing everyone who produced poor quality. I refused so he fired me. In retaliation, he made Bill the QA Manager where he stayed until he retired.

In the 70’s and 80’s The Texas DX Society was known for outrageous projects such as The Great Armadillo Runs that activated every county in the W5 call area in three years during the weekend of the County Hunter CW Contest. For the Texas Sesquicentennial, we convinced the Governor to create Armadillo County for the celebration. We had the Armadillo County Courthouse set up at the grand opening of the celebration. I was the County Judge and Bill drove me to the kickoff in the Rolls.

Bill also hosted monthly “prayer meetings” where club members would play penny-ante poker to the wee hours. I haven’t seen Bill since we moved to Nevada 26 years ago, but we stayed in contact on the CW bands. His wife, Cathy, was always his partner and a great friend to all of us. We will miss him.