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Harvey L. Baalke Sheboygan, WI QCWA # 06027 |
Birth: Mar. 23, 1907 - Death: Mar. 19, 2008
Harvey L. Baalke, 100, went to be with his Lord on Wednesday, March 19, 2008. He was born in Sheboygan on March 23, 1907, a son of the late Henry and Pauline (Grabowski) Baalke.
On April 1, 1934 he was united in marriage to Amanda Nix and she preceded him in death on October 3, 1989.
Harvey's interest in radio and electronics led him to take seven years of night classes at Sheboygan Vocational/Technical School while he worked during the day. At the Technical School he learned all phases of electronics and electrical law and function. While at the Technical School he received his "HAM" radio license to operate on short wave. He has maintained this license and call letters, W9HNX, to this day. He had continued to contact other HAMs around the world.
As World War II broke out Harvey used his electronics skills working at the Manitowoc shipyards where twenty-eight submarines were manufactured. Harvey installed radar, torpedo data control and other electronics on board the vessels. following World War II, Harvey continued to work at the shipyards working on the electronics of ships traveling the Great Lakes, including the John Boland which was built at Manitowoc and was the first self unloading ore boat on the Great Lakes.
In 1952 Harvey and several other personnel from Manitowoc Ship Building were sent to Arco, Idaho to work on a classified government project. The project turned out to be a mock up of the first atomic submarine, the Nautilus. There they worked with Admiral Hyman Rickover to get the bugs out of how to place a nuclear reactor in a submarine. Harvey received a Medallion from the Federal Government for his work on this project.
After retirement Harvey still remained active in the Wisconsin Maritime Museum as a life member and also a member of the American Radio Relay League.
Surviving Harvey are three sons, James (Kathleen), Thomas (Sherry) and Robert all of Sheboygan; five grandchildren, Paul (Nancy) Baalke of Sheboygan, John (Janelle) Baalke of Soldotna, Alaska, Jeremy (Dana) Baalke of Tomahawk, Darren Baalke of Grafton and Holly (James) Leibham of Howards Grove. He is further survived by ten great grandchildren and one brother, Herbert Baalke of Sheboygan. In addition to his wife he was preceded in death by a brother, Henry.
Family links:
Parents: Pauline Grabowski Baalke (1873 - 1964)
Children: Thomas L Baalke (1941 - 2015)*
*Calculated relationship
Burial: Lutheran Cemetery, Sheboygan, Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, USA