Point Reyes Light - November 21, 2002

Inverness ham radio buff Purcell, 89, dies

By Larken Bradley

Longtime Inverness resident Stewart W. Purcell, a retired microwave engineer and ham radio operator, died Monday, Oct. 7, the day before his 90th birthday of complications from head injuries suffered after falling several days earlier. A birthday party scheduled for Mr. Purcell was celebrated as his memorial service.

A West Marin resident for more than 50 years, in 1948, while living in Sacramento, Mr. Purcell and his wife, photographer Abbie Purcell, who died in 1988, purchased the Inverness property where they built a weekend cabin.

Employed with Pacific Telephone and Telegraph his entire career, Mr. Purcell supervised the installation of microwave relay stations in California, Nevada, and Utah. He eventually transferred to a position in the company’s San Francisco headquarters, moving to Inverness fulltime in 1955.

For more than 20 years, until his retirement in 1977, Mr. Purcell commuted daily on the old 6 am Inverness bus run to San Francisco.

A spark for radio

An amateur radio buff from a young age, Mr. Purcell’s vocation and avocation dovetailed to shape a life devoted to radio communications. In an autobiography written for a radio club several years ago, Mr. Purcell noted, "One of my neighbors . . . had a spark ‘wireless.’ Something about those 60-foot towers supporting a big fan antenna and counterpoise along with a roaring spark gap fired my enthusiasm and eventually led me to a career and hobby of communications . . . ."

In West Marin he was active in forming the RACES group, which serves as communication central during disasters. For several years he served on the board of the Inverness Public Utility District.

Shortly after his birth in Oakland on Oct. 8, 1912, his family moved to Bakersfield. While still a young boy his parents divorced and his mother supported her son and daughter by working as a schoolteacher. The family eventually moved to Fresno.

After graduating from high school Mr. Purcell enrolled in college, but was forced to drop out during lean times. After the Great Depression, he joined the Civil Conservation Corp as a radio operator, working to keep various camps in touch with one another.

During World War II, he served in the Merchant Marines as chief radio officer on several ships in the Pacific. While still in the service Mr. Purcell met his future wife, Abbie Ann Stimson, a young graduate of the Art Center of Design in Pasadena, who shared an apartment in Fresno with his sister.

A reserved man, when discussions grew controversial, Mr. Purcell played his cards close to his vest. Explaining his discretion, he once said, "I could win the argument, but I’d lose a friend," reported his daughter, Ann Read of Inverness.

"He was just a prince of a fella," added friend and neighbor Dick Flint, a fellow ham fan.

Describing his friend as an excellent Morse Code operator, "we put up with each other’s key clicks over the years," Flint laughed.

Self-taught

A self-taught historian, Mr. Purcell often picked a topic such as Russian history, and read every book available on the subject. When his daughter grew frustrated over national or world events, he gently put things in perspective. "Try not to get too cynical," he advised.

"I always felt better talking to him . . . and he was the one I could always talk to," she said.

He was a member of the Capital City Masonic Lodge No. 499, and numerous radio clubs. In radio parlance, "silent key," is used when a ship goes down, or a transmission is finished. "Dad is a silent key now," his daughter reflected.

Mr. Purcell was predeceased by his wife and sister.

He is survived by his daughter and son-in-law, Ann and Jim Read of Inverness.

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