2021-03-23 I remember writing this... but I had forgotten where I had published it. Don's death affected me deeply; I couldn't sleep that night (I posted this at 02:41). As part of the reorganization of my blogs, I stumbled across this article and I'm so glad I did. Now this article can find a proper home here on N8GNJ.org in addition to where I originally posted it. (The original article is worth checking out for some lovely comments.) I still think of Don often as I putter in my new shop. I will put that radio he gave me back on the air - somehow. One of my favorite memories of Don was an article he wrote for the TAPR Packet Status Register (PSR) about using a TAPR TNC-2 with the TAPR 9600 bps FSK adapter. It offended Don's sensibilities to "waste" the entire 1200 bps AFSK modem section of a TNC-2 so he bought a bare TNC-2 board and methodically either removed, or added components until the 9600 bps FSK adapter worked and the 1200 bps AFSK modem was removed.
Another memory of Don was his first, and last, wife Donita. She was just as powerful an individual as Don. I'm glad I got to meet her and know her a little bit. Sadly, Donita passed away a few years after Don.
An old friend of mine, Don Werts, died on Tuesday, September 25, 2007. One of the proudest things in Don's life was that he was an Amateur (Ham) Radio Operator - N7NKJ, and when Hams die, their (metaphoric) Morse Code key goes silent - a Silent Key.
At some point after Don's death, I began referring to deceased Amateur Radio Operators who I knew largely through packet radio as "Silent Keyboards. It seems more fitting.
I'm sad that I'll no longer be able to talk to Don, to see his smiling face, to hear his encouraging words, and just simply enjoy being around him. He was that kind of a guy - that you just enjoyed being around him.
But pleased that Don died trying to make himself whole again. Don, who I *think* was in his early 70's, suffered from severely impaired cardiac function as a result of radiation treatment many years ago. The radiation treatment had scarred his heart muscle and Don's condition had gradually worsened over the years, to the point where it had become debilitating and every breath was a struggle. Don decided to go forward with a rare, high-risk surgery (performed by a very rare surgeon) that if successful would repair the damage and allow Don a pretty normal life. Don's surgery ended up being in two parts as Don's heart was just so fragile. Don survivied the first part of the surgery a few months ago, but not the second part on Tuesday.
You see, Don wanted to live a full, fulfilling life, especially with his wonderful wife Donita, father to his children, and grandfather to his grandchildren. Family life was especially sweet to Don as he had divorced Donita earlier in his life, I *think* remarried, divorced, and eventually reconnected with and remarried Donita much later in life. To Don, it was worth the high risk of the surgery because he wanted to live a FULL life, not the severely impaired, barely functional life he had without the surgery. I understand this about Don implicitly because earlier this year I elected to have surgery that has profoundly impacted my life for the better, that had significant risk, and I ended up having severe complications. But to Don, and I, the risks were worth it because the payoff if the surgery succeeded was to be able to live a full life again - to Live Fully, to Love More Deeply, to experience ALL that our incredible life as humans has to offer.
I'm reminded of a phrase from a favorite Robert Heinlein book: "To die trying is the proudest thing we can say as humans". Don died trying (and I nearly did).
Don leaves many legacies. He leaves behind much family, which regrettably, I never got to know because Don moved away from his extended family in Southern California to the Seattle area for career reasons, where I got to know him. During his time in the Seattle area, he was single and lonely, despite having many, many fellow Hams as friends who were impressed by Don's electronics skills and knowledge. One of Don's legacies to me is that I own several radios that Don rebuilt for use with Amateur Packet Radio, and Don was an absolute craftsman - all his work was neat, he wrote good documentation, and when he was done with something, it WORKED! Don was a profound example of dedication when we both worked hard as officers in an Amateur Radio group to to try to keep the group going. Writing articles for the group's (paper) newsletter was an onerous chore to Don. While Don was a very good writer, every word came hard for him. For me, writing was easy, but Don's output was much more impressive to those few that knew how much it cost him to write those words.
Don's most profound legacy to me is how, through the example of his life, and the few times he discussed his personal life, how sad he was to go through much of his life single, and the incredible example of his PROFOUND joy when he reconnected with and decided to remarry Donita, and unfortunately for me and the "TCP/IP Hams" here in the Seattle, moved back to Southern California to happily settle down again with Donita. Don had a lot of happy years with Donita until the health problems that led to his death resurfaced in the last couple of years. In recent years, Don and I communicated only sporadically, but he told me on several occasions that he was proud of me for various accomplishments in my life, and he was one of the few people in my life from whom such praise really, really made a difference.
I'll miss Don, at least for the rest of my time on Earth, but again, I'm not sad for him because he did Die Trying. As Donita said in her email message (wonderfully titled "Old HAMS never die they just send a stronger signal from a different place)". No one could leave this life having fought to have had a life any more than Don did. His everyday courage was absolutely amazing and remember I lived with him."
73 N7NKJ, de N8GNJ