Howard NØAZ, Carl Peck of San Luis Obispo, California, KN6SZT and his brother John Peck
The opportunity to visit Ensor Park and Museum while he was in the greater Kansas City area to see two of his brothers brought Carl Peck of San Luis Obispo, California, KN6SZT, to the eight-acre site earlier this month for what proved to be a most memorable experience.
On hand to greet Carl and his brother John upon their midday arrival at Ensor were Marty Peters, KEØPEZ, the secretary-treasurer of the Santa Fe Trail Amateur Radio Club, and fellow club members Howard Cripe, NØAZ, and Rick Nichols. The other brother had been planning to accompany Carl and John, who lives in Lenexa, on the weekday outing, but unfortunately some care-taking obligations elsewhere prevented him from making the trip to Olathe. In the photograph that complements this story, Carl, center, and John, right, are pictured just to the east of the Ensor home's Radio Room as they listen to Howard talk about the history of the property, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Peck brothers are native Kansans, having grown up in the Concordia area.
While Marty, tools in hand, worked here, there and yonder to spruce up the general appearance of the grounds, Howard and Rick spent well over an hour in showing Carl and John the two-story house where Marshall Ensor, W9BSP, and his younger sister Loretta, W9UA, were raised, the summer kitchen, Bill McCabe's pioneer cabin, the big barn where Marshall used his arc welder to repair neighbors' farm machinery, and the three-room peg barn that includes a miniature version of Marshall's woodworking shop at Olathe High School. They also fielded questions from the two men - and Carl had a number of them - answering them the best they could.
Grateful for the chance to be fully immersed in all things Ensor, Carl sent Howard the following email on October 5:
"I want to thank you for taking time to meet me and my brother for a private tour of your most amazing Ensor Park and Museum last Tuesday (October 1). It was a singular thrill and joy for this now old, once Kansas preteen ham in the 1950s, to examine and, in some instances, touch the historic artifacts that have Marshall and Loretta Ensor's fingerprints on them. What a display of ingenious instrumentation, adapted to the times in which Marshall pioneered his radio craft! Marshall was a true polymath, so highly skilled in so many industrial arts that he taught and practiced. The Ensor Park and Museum is truly a National Treasure!"
A member of Estero Radio Club in Morro Bay, California, Carl is an adjunct professor in the Department of Bio engineering and Therapeutic Sciences, Schools of Pharmacy and Medicine, University of California at San Francisco.