Jim Horton – WB8WYA (SK)
Following is the introduction to the memorial video delivered by Mike, W5EVT, during the membership meeting on March
21, 2020. Jim Horton, WB8YWA, became a silent key this past Monday, March 16 at 6:30 PM. Jim would have celebrated his 75th
birthday on March 18 and was dearly looking forward to it.
He and his wife, Sherry, moved to Lewisville in 1996. Jim was licensed in 1975 in Michigan. He loved HF and 6 meters. 6 meters was his favorite band. When the club was founded, Jim joined our club as one of the original members. when we were a group of about 15 and held our meetings at the Fat Cow BBQ on Valley Ridge Blvd. It didn’t take long for him to become active and a backbone member in our club. Jim was the first elected Technical Director for the club and he held that office to this day.
Jim also started our Wednesday evening Information and Help Net and was the voice of the net as Net Control most Wednesday evenings unless he was traveling. He loved calling the net and was excellent at convincing other less experienced individuals that they could also do it; not that he really wanted to give up the job though. He also enjoyed working the National Traffic System. He was the Traffic Manager for the state of Michigan for many years. He would check into several nets every day that he was around a radio and assisted in passing and untold amount of traffic. This past Tuesday the 7290 Traffic Net recognized him for his services.
Jim was a Life Member of ARRL. Jim was the first, and only to this point, recipient of a Certificate of Merit from the ARRL North Texas Section Manager, Steve Lott Smith. He was very proud of that honor. The fun part of the presentation was that we were able to keep it quiet until the evening he received the award. It was a total surprise to him.
Our membership roster stands at approximately 50 individuals. Every one of those members has been welcomed by Jim and the majority of us have been the recipient of his vast knowledge of Amateur Radio. If any one of us ever needed help with a problem Jim was right there offering his assistance. Jim was an early riser. He was up before the chickens every morning six days a week to get on the air with a group of long-time friends around the country; a group of which he was co-founder and known as the “Morning Group”. They have a long history of never-ending friendship. He also introduced many of his Lewisville area friends to the group and we are now active participants.
A highlight for Jim was face-to-face meetings of the group in February of 2018 and 2019 at the Orlando Hamvention. At these gatherings Ron and I had the honor of spending three days sharing old memories and making new ones. Thus far it sounds like Jim’s life rotated around amateur radio and LARA. That is far from the fact. He enjoyed his family most of all; his love for his wife, Sherry, his kids and grand kids above all were foremost in his life. He was active in his church and had accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior a long time ago. He enjoyed afternoon swims with grand kids, hunting and fishing with his kids and grand kids, family meals after he did the BBQing, hooking up the fifth wheel camper and heading off across the country, cruising on the big ships with friends, Cub Scouts with grandson Max and much more.
