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Ella E. Koons Wichita, KS QCWA # 26347 Chapter(s): 27 & 120 |
Ella was born October 11, 1920 at the Blue Creek house on the Nordin Farm close to El Campo, Texas. She was the 4th child of her parents, John Edward Nordin and Mary Virginia Meadows Nordin. Her older brothers were Raymond, Dennis, and Oscar Nordin, all born at Blue Creek.
Her mother, Mary Virginia (aka Virgie) died the day of Ella's birth of Uremic poisoning. Her father, John, asked his oldest sister, Jennie Evaline Nordin Isaacson and her husband, Elmer Theodore Isaacson, to come out that day to help him with the newborn.
Jennie & Elmer adopted Ella a couple of months later. As a very small girl, she would go around proudly telling everyone that she was adopted.
Jennie was always very particular about making sure that Ella kept a relationship with her birth father, John Nordin, until his death when she was 8 years old.
Ella had two sisters, Flora Isaacson McMillan and Ruth Isaacson Giese; and a brother, Wallace Isaacson who died during infancy.
She also had 4 younger half-brothers from John Nordin's second marriage to Aurora Cooper: Curtis, Byrtle (Red), Clyde, and Joel Nordin.
When Ella was about a year old, due to crop failures Elmer Isaacson moved his family to Hesperus, Colorado (southwest of Durango) where he worked as a Rio Grande Railroad depot agent.
Ella was 4 1/2 years old when they moved back to El Campo, Texas.
She was driving to school on the streets of El Campo at the early age of 13 years old. Her first job was working for Elmer in the Isaacson Cotton Gin. She lived in El Campo until she went off to college.
In 1939 she attended Abilene Christian College in Abilene, Texas and later transferred to Sam Houston State Teachers College in Huntsville, Texas receiving her Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education in 1943.
The first two years she lived near and taught in a two-room school house 15 miles out of El Campo at the Round Mott School. For another year she lived back home and taught in another two room school house 4 miles out of El Campo at the Blue Creek School.
World War II was going on at this time and on weekends, dances for the GIs were held down at the training camps in Palacios. That is where she met her future husband, Albert Joseph Schabell from Ft. Thomas, Kentucky. Upon Al's return from the European War Front, they were married in 1945.
In 1951 she was given her ultimate test of endurance and resilience when Al was killed in a single-car wreck, while driving alone back from Bay City. They had a two-year-old daughter, Suzanne, and Ella was 5 months pregnant with their daughter, Renee'.
Several years later she attended Sam Houston State Teachers College in the summers and received her Masters Degree in Education.
In 1959, free from summer school classes, Ella and her girls made a trip, which resulted in a turning point in her life. First they visited Al's relatives in Kentucky and then went down through Alabama to see her brother, Raymond and his family. Raymond was a ham radio operator, and they spent the whole visit with his Radios. As soon as she returned home from vacation, she contacted a ham operator in El Campo to help her get started to obtain her license. She had her novice license in just a month, just before the summer was over. That meant she could operate CW (that's Morse code). By Christmas break, she had passed her test for her general class license and was issued the call sign K5WSJ. Now she could talk on the radio using voice --- to her brother and many others.
This is when she started talking with her future husband, Charles Koons, K0YGP from Edwardsville, KS near Kansas City. She and Charles were married in 1960 and the family moved to Kansas. She was issued a new call sign, W0AYL. In the ham radio world, YL means 'young lady', making her call sign of W0AYL very recognizable. She has held this call sign for almost 47 years.
She was a dedicated volunteer with the Kansas City Civil Defense. She would sit with her mobile rig on a hill during storms as a tornado spotter.
Charles set her up with a great antenna systems and she took advantage of these antennas and her Globe King 500 to work emergency communications during hurricanes. The antennas also gave her an advantage while "County Hunting". She is the Charter Member #1 with MARAC, The Mobile Amateur Radio Awards Club, a national organization with emphasis on giving out awards for people who work every county in the USA, all 3076 of them. She was the 16th person of currently 81 that have worked them 5th times around.
Ella always took up active rolls with radio clubs; she held officer positions and participated in other activities. She attended hundreds Ham Fests across the nation, taught kids, including the blind Morse code, and is known by thousands of hams across the United States. She is also directly or indirectly responsible for at least 7 or 8 of her own family members becoming hams.
After 20 years in the Kansas City area, she retired from teaching, and she and Charles moved back to El Campo with 2 of Charles' grandsons.
She was a good driver and only once received a speeding ticket after driving for 62 years. At that time she was in her mid 70s, and they made her attend driving school along with the other speeders that were 18-20 years old. She didn't know if she should be ashamed or proud.
Over the years and particularly after becoming a widow for the 2nd time, she spent time enjoying her other interest, which included knitting beautiful and intricate yarn and lace doilies, quilting, sewing, and crafts.
Ella was very proud of her two grandsons, Peter Standish and Trevor Standish and enjoyed making heirloom gifts for them. She was also blessed with five great-grandchildren.