How the internet renewed a silent key’s legacy

It surprises me that a lot of amateur radio operators are technophobes — they were once on the bleeding edge of technology a decade or three ago, but have since fallen behind or they refuse to embrace the internet and other new technologies. Despite that, my club, the Des Moines Radio Amateurs’ Association, has a pretty good website.

Each year at the club’s holiday party, a central Iowa ham is honored with the Winthrop Mager Award. The club describes the nomination criteria as “nominees are those amateur operators that have shown outstanding support for amateur radio, promotion of the amateur radio service and have done so with the utmost respect for the community and fellow operators.”

Wynell Mager-Kisner, left, the daughter of the Rev. Winthrop Mager W0MJH (SK), presented the Winthrop Mager Award to George Noble KK7FM.

When I posted a call for nominations for the award, we hit some blind luck. A few weeks after posting the call for nominations and only a few days before the award was to be presented, one of Rev. Mager’s daughters found the page and commented on the article. And then another daughter did the same and provided her phone number.

When I logged into WordPress to check for new comments, I was amazed to find these two women’s comments. I forwarded it on to the rest of the board, and Tom, our president, invited one of the daughters to speak at the ceremony and present the award to this year’s winner.

Wynell Mager-Kisner spoke at the holiday party, about 50 in attendance. Out of those, only one only slightly remembered Rev. Mager, who would have been 101 years old this year. She spoke about his charity to the community and his love and support for amateur radio. He was a role model of radio operators to come — loved children, loved to teach and share his passion and was always willing to find innovative new ways to improve his community.

This, I think, is accomplishing the goal of the award. It brings meaning to the amateur radio community and serves as an example for future hams. There are now many more people who know the legacy of the Rev. Winthrop Mager and can continue to spread his legacy to current and future hams alike.