Tribute To Paul Streeter - Part 2

One of the things Paul was well known for was his tales of the Church, his love for traditional types of music, and especially his volunteer work at WFMT radio - Chicago's classic radio. In the photo pictured above, we see Paul enjoying an educational lecture given by a Senior Engineer of WFMT Radio during a special presentation given for the North Shore Radio Club. Besides NSRC, Paul was also a well known and well liked member of W9LYA - The Chicago Metro Amateur Radio Club.

This author has attended a few of the MAC meetings with Paul in the past, which always proved to be fun. Paul was a certified genius, and as such, was inducted into Chicago Area MENSA.  Prior to holding the United States Federal Communications Commission assigning him the Extra Class callsign AB9PS, Paul held the call KB9ZIO as a General Class Operator.

Paul was more than just a local amateur radio operator with a gifted brain, he was more than just a local genius, and a Skywarn Net Control Op. Paul and his son, Dave, are both heroes to the railroad service. In 2009, Paul and his son, Dave, were returning home from a meeting at the National Railway Historical Society when Paul noticed a couple of kids playing on a moving railroad engine, and used their radio skills to contact the train engineer, saving the lives of the children. 

Paul would often speak of his family's heritage, and could often be heard recounting the story of the time someone he knew who was a religious man and also a conscientious objector due to reasons of faith, being drafted into the U.S. Armed Services long ago. This person thought that the Amish were exempt from being drafted and Paul would always say "But someone forgot to tell Congress about that!"

If this author ever found anything unique about Paul, it was that he never ever was heard or observed speaking badly about anyone even if he had the chance to do so. There would be times when Paul and myself would be sitting around watching TV and he would say something out of nowhere, and it was always either something funny or something that made you think because it would always be something most people never thought about or even noticed. Paul had a keen sense of observation.

Paul's love for logic seemed to fuel his interest in electronics and communications, or was it the other way around? It was hard to tell sometimes, but either way, Paul knew what he was doing. My mother once said "No man is ever so tall as when he stoops to help a child." Paul has been known to spend many hours on the phone with this author's daughter helping her with difficult & confusing algebra problems, never asking for anything in return. 

No matter what else Paul did in life, you could find him thinking about something. Paul was known as a deep thinker who was never afraid to look for answers. Conversations with Paul could get so intense as to leave a person speechless, and deep in their own thoughts. This author always had a reverent and playful nickname for Paul - "wise old owl".

Part 3 of this tribute to Paul Streeter will continue tomorrow. Thank you to everyone for allowing this publication to share the celebration of Paul's life with you.