SB SPCL @ ARL $ARLX006   
   ARLX006 Past ARRL General Manager, QST Editor John Huntoon, W1RW   
   (SK)   
      
   ZCZC AX06   
   QST de W1AW   
   Special Bulletin 6  ARLX006   
   > From ARRL Headquarters   
   Newington CT  March 3, 2014   
   To all radio amateurs   
      
   SB SPCL ARL ARLX006   
   ARLX006 Past ARRL General Manager, QST Editor John Huntoon, W1RW   
   (SK)   
      
   John Huntoon, W1RW (ex-W1LVQ), of East Hartford, Connecticut, died   
   February 23. He was 97. Huntoon served as ARRL Secretary and General   
   Manager from 1961 until 1975. A Full Charter Life Member of ARRL, he   
   also was the Secretary of the International Amateur Radio Union and   
   Editor of QST. His oldest daughter, Susan Shipman, recalled that the   
   League was an important part of her father's life.   
      
   "As a child in the 40s and 50s I remember visiting the office at   
   LaSalle Road [in West Hartford] several times and then seeing the   
   new office in Newington later on of which he was very proud," she   
   said "His radio room at home was in my bedroom closet, and I spent   
   many a night as a child listening to him talking with fellow   
   operators all over the world."   
      
   Following his tenure as ARRL General Manager, Huntoon served from   
   1976 until 1980 as ARRL treasurer. He also was active in the Quarter   
   Century Wireless Association (QCWA) and was on its board of   
   directors. His daughter said he remained active in the QCWA until   
   recently.   
      
   An Illinois native, Huntoon got interested in radio and electronics   
   as a youngster and he obtained W9KJY in 1932, while he was still in   
   high school. Soon he was deeply involved in traffic handling and   
   becoming very proficient in radiotelegraphy. In 1936 he was elected   
   Illinois Section Communications Manager - the forerunner of the   
   Section Manager. He also served as Secretary of the Chicago Area   
   Radio Club Council.   
      
   After he helped run the 1938 ARRL National Convention in Chicago,   
   his organizational qualities caught the attention of ARRL staffers.   
   This resulted in his becoming an Assistant Secretary of the ARRL in   
   1939. Huntoon developed the basic material for Learning the   
   Radiotelegraph Code and became acting Communications Manager at the   
   League after F.E. Handy, W1BDI, entered World War II service. In   
   1942, he took his own leave of absence from Headquarters for World   
   War II service in the US Coast Guard, where he was a chief radioman.   
      
   Upon his return to Headquarters following the war, Huntoon was   
   introduced to the international ham radio scene, attending the 1949   
   Inter-American Radio Conference and the 1959 Administrative Radio   
   Conference in Geneva. In 1956 he became ARRL Assistant General   
   Manager.   
      
   ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ, said, "John was General Manager when I   
   first joined the ARRL staff. At the time it seemed to me that he   
   could do every job in the building - and that he sometimes did."   
      
   In addition to Amateur Radio, Huntoon, in his younger years, enjoyed   
   beekeeping and was a self-described "gentleman farmer" as well as an   
   amateur astronomer and telescope builder.   
      
   Huntoon and his wife, Pat, had three daughters. Pat Huntoon died in   
   1995.   
   NNNN   
   /EX   
      
      
   )\/(ark   
      
   One of the great tragedies of life is the murder of a beautiful theory by a   
   gang of brutal facts. --Benjamin Franklin   
      
   --- FMail/Win32 1.60   
    * Origin:  (1:3634/12.71)