"Farm Girl" Ham was Stuck on Stamps
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- Written by: Rick Nichols
"Loretta never married and didn't renew her 1972 license but remained a farm girl until 1991." - from the 2015 Ensor Park and Museum promotional video written and narrated by Larry Woodworth, W0HXS
After becoming associated with the operation of Ensor Park and Museum in Olathe in the early 2000s, museum manager and Santa Fe Trail Amateur Radio Club member Larry Woodworth discovered that Loretta Ensor, 9UA/W9UA, who never left the family farm where she and her older brother Marshall, 9BSP/W9BSP, were raised, was a stamp collector. A philatelist, if you will.
Larry happened to share that 'tidbit' with me several weeks ago when I was out at the eight-acre complex one afternoon to have a look around, then, largely blaming himself, he went on to lament the lack of attention Loretta had received overall in the latest color brochure that had been produced to let the general public know about Ensor Park and Museum and what visitors can expect to see there upon their arrival at the place.
Revisiting the Renaissance Man
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- Written by: Rick Nichols
If you participated in Field Day 2019 at Ensor Park and Museum on Saturday, June 22, you helped amateur radio pioneer Marshall Ensor of W9BSP fame celebrate his 120th birthday, albeit in his absence unfortunately and likely, on your part, unknowingly.
Born June 22, 1899 in Johnson County, Ensor demonstrated an above-average ability as a woodworker at an early age and won a first place prize in 1915 for the kitchen cabinet he constructed for a national contest sponsored by the Simond Saw Company. He also displayed a real interest in wireless telegraphy, or radio, as a teenager and in 1916 built a spark gap transmitter that enabled him to communicate with others through Morse code at a distance of up to 20 miles.
After his graduation from Olathe High School (now Olathe North High School) in 1917, Ensor was hired to be an assistant under Manual Arts instructor James Bradshaw during the 1917-1918 school year. The following term, 1918-1919, the teaching position was his, as Bradshaw had moved on.