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George H. Petrides Bethesda, MD QCWA # 36415 Chapter 20 |
George Petrides Sr., 77, a birdwatcher who in 1986 founded the Wild Bird Centers of America, a retail franchise catering to birdwatching and bird-feeding enthusiasts, died March 6, 2020 at his home in Bethesda, Md. The cause was end-stage kidney failure, said his wife, Bette Petrides.
Mr. Petrides, a native Washingtonian, was a Peace Corps volunteer and administrator in Africa. He sold such items as binoculars and birding books at his Wild Bird Center store in Glen Echo, Md. He retired in 2016. He led bird walks along the C&O Canal, and he was an amateur radio operator.
from qrz.com
ex-KN8WHG Novice call in 1959. I will always be grateful to my father (SK) who bought me a Knight Kit Space Spanner receiver for Christmas and Wayne Gorseline (SK), my esteemed Elmer in Williamston, Michigan, who helped me earn my Novice ticket. A special tip o' the hat to my son, George Petrides, Jr., K8WHG, who also lives in Bethesda, Marylad.
ex-W8WHG vanity call (based on my old Novice call, WN8WHG) for many, many years until July 26, 2013 when W3YW was granted.
ex-ZS9S and ex-A2CAS in Molepolole, Botswana from 1968-1969 when stationed there as a US Peace Corps Volunteer (high school teacher). Amazingly, there were several other volunteer/amateur radio operators around Molepolole in those days: Myself (W8WHG); Pete Wood, ZS9F (N7BEJ) and Les Gornall, now GI1BZT. We're still in touch with each other after those great times as rare DX with a HW-32A, 2-element wire, inverted V-beam and a Honda engine turning a car generator with an erratic voltage regulator connected to 3 car batteries!
Tip o' the hat to my pal, Joel Thurtell in Michigan, K8PSV. Joel operated as 5V7JT in Togo when stationed in that country in 1990 as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Joel, a skilled writer and newsaper reporter, is also famous for unearthing the amazing story of the "roll your own" Collins 75A-4 in a QST article (February, 2000) as well as masterminding "RadioFinders", a fabulous source of restored boat anchors.
A few years ago Joel asked my granddaughter and me to review and contribute a jacket blurb for his new book "Mouse Code", now available on Amazon and the ARRL e-store.
Station: Icom 7800, PW1 amp, 5-band Hex-beam on 40" crank-up tower (plus several hundred other bits and pieces of vintage radios, knobs, tubes, gear and antennas).
Interests: DX, antennas, wild bird watching and bird feeding (visit www.wildbird.com and www.facebook.com/birdfeedingsociety), franchising and commercial real estate development.
Call History: Jack Walker of Bellville, PA held W3YW until about 2005. Luis Bonilla then held the call until July, 2013. His call is now KP4C in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. I hope to meet Luis on the air soon!