We Have Lost Our Good Friend NORM...KN6JE

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IN MEMORY

I want to take this opportunity to remember a dear friend of mine and of our's who we all lost last December. It was through amateur radio that I met Norm Larson, KN6JE. It was back in the late winter of 1992 at the very Shakey's Pizza parlor in North Hollywood where MARS get-togethers are occasionally held at. A mutual friend of ours and I were attending a get-together for a different repeater group we were members of at the time. You see, back then there was no MARS. The day I met Norm, he was not even a ham yet. This mutual friend of ours, Hal, stood up in front of the whole group at the meeting and said that Norm was planning to take the test and get his license. Well, at the time, Norm had no firm intention of doing so. He always joked about that being the kick to get him to actually take the test. He figured that he was committed because the whole group knew about him.
So, he took the test and was issued the callsign: KD6HNC. When that callsign was assigned by the FCC, it is clear that amateur radio, at least here in Los Angeles, would be blessed. Once Norm got his callsign, he began slowly making his way around the dial meeting people. He even got out on my then home frequency and said hi once in a while. At this point I still didn't know him too well, but as time went by I talked to him more and more. One day, while conversing on the air, we discovered that we both loved coffee. So, we decided to get together for a cup of coffee one evening. As time went by, we met quite often and seemed to be able to talk about anything and everything. What really took me about Norm, were the stories he would tell me about the people he would meet over the radio and help out. I cannot tell you how many elderly and disabled people Norm ended up assisting with radio installations, home repairs and so many other things. I was so amazed at how caring and unselfish Norm was.
Throughout the fall of 1992, Norm and I started talking about how challenging and interesting it would be to own and maintain a repeater. He always joked that if I was crazy enough to want that kind of responsibility, he wouldn't try to talk me out of it. Well, we planned out everything from A to Z, and by May 03, 1993, MARS signed on the air from Loop Canyon for the very first time. As the system grew and members came and went, everyone who knew Norm realized just how special a person he really was. I will tell you right now that if it were not for Norm and his moral and technical support, there never would have been a MARS. I will not ever be able to go up to either repeater site and not see Norm's works and contributions.
Norm continues to live in all of our memories and in all of our hearts. I am sorry that I was not in town to be with him during his final days. However, I have to think that he would want us all to remember him as we knew him, not how he spent those final days. I miss him dearly.
-George, KJ6TQ