Stunned!

[hollyking]

One of the cool things about being part of the Washington County ARES/RACES group is that I'm just a young punk to most of them. I'm the target of friendly jokes about youth, inexperience and being out past my bedtime. I give back my share with questions about living with the dinosaurs and life during the last ice age.

Since most of the ARES members are old I've gotten used to the messages about folks going to the hospital for hip replacements, pneumonia or other age related ills. It still saddens me to get a message with the subject of a callsign and the letters "SK." SK is a Morse code abbreviation for silent key, that means another one of my friends has passed on.

Today I was stunned and greatly saddened by the message "KD5PZO SK." Pat Kusch was always smiling and a fun to be near. She and her husband, Kevin KD5ONS, taught the emergency communications classes that I took and she always pushed me to perform beyond what was just required to pass. I will miss her.