On the 24th April 2011 my friend Arthur Gray and Licenced Radio Amateur since 1957 had a stroke at home and first went into Leicester Royal Infirmary and then Leicester General hospital, over the months that followed life was very different for me the man i had met in 2001 a man that was always laughing and joking always very knowledgable and always happy to help me had become a vegetable unable to talk, walk, move his arms or see.
The one man that had turned my life around had made me realize that i wasn’t so stupid i was just finding it difficult to communicate with others and find new friends, Arthur showed me that all that ways different is that i needed confidance, he taught me electronics and Amateur Radio so that i could gain my Novice Amateur Radio licence, he spent time with me helping me understand technical stuff in a practical way, something even the local radio club could not do while my parents chatting to Jean his wife in the front room myself and Arthur spent most of saturday afternoons operating the radio and talking to people from all over the world.
We were transmitting on the day of the 9/11 disaster our combined skills Arthurs experiance of using his radio equipment and my skills in listening and radio Q codes meant when we was asked by an american Radio ham if would could help clear the radio band we was using meant we could do the task in hand in an officiant manner, and therefore help our fellow hams on the other side of the world, provide a communications network which meant mobiles phones where useless.
In 2002 i gained my full Novice Amateur Radio Licence with my current callsign of 2E0TPP i will forever be greatful to Arthur for his every lasting support, over the months after Arthurs stroke medical staff tried hard to get him back to the original Arthur but it wasn’t possible i made a commitment to try and help him regain so sort of mobility some sort of communication with his wife and son and with me everytime i went to see him he would acknowledge me and say hello but that was about it infection after infection meant he deteriated in health and just gave up the fight.
On the 23rd August 2011 Arthur was moved to Gray Ferers Nursing home all medical treatment had been withdrawn and it was just a case of sitting and waiting we only needed to wait a week i went to visit him every day from the day he was moved he would hold my hand and smile at me he know i was there and knew i wouldn’t go until my friend was ok, but that never happened on the 30th August i saw Arthur for the last time he was seriously unwell with a chest infection and wasn’t able to even say hello to me that was at 4.30pm at 7am the next morning 31st August 2011 i received a call from his son to say my best friend and Radio mate had passed away peacefully at 4.35am.
My friend for nearly 12 years had gone a silent key a wise man with a sense of humour i will never be able to beat, I miss he so much i miss giving him a call to tell him to turn his power down as i can’t make a radio call without hearing him over the top of everything, about calling him for advise on something i’m working on about just calling to say hello.
I wish he was around still he made a big dent in my life and something i don’t think i will ever fill he supported me through my depression and was proud of me what i thought i had found my life partner sadly that wasn’t to be but he was there all the time he will never learn that i am getting my life back on track that i’m trying to move on and follow the dream i told him about, i miss Arthur G3LTT my best mate/friend/buddy it was his funeral yesterday 14th september 2011 at 12.45pm at gilros crematoriam.
WHY DO ALL THE SPECIAL PEOPLE IN MY LIFE LEAVE ME, MY DREAM OF GETTING MARRIED AND HAVING A FAMILY AND BRINGING THEM TO SEE MATE ARTHUR WILL NEVER HAPPEN NOW. MAYBE ITS TIME I GAVE UP WITH MY DREAM ARTHURS PASSING IS PROBABLY A SIGNAL TO CALL IT A DAY AND LIVE MY LIFE ALONE.
