Ina Ensor, not to be confused with Ida Ensor, the mother of amateur radio pioneers Marshall (W9BSP) and Loretta (W9UA) Ensor, was married to Marshall, and apparently happily so, for nearly 40 full years. But what at least some hams probably don't know about her is that she, too, was a licensed operator.
The one-time holder of easy-to-remember call sign W9TRY, Ina May (Dana) Ensor (1892-1983) was the subject of an hour-plus presentation club Secretary-Treasurer Marty Peters, KEØPEZ, did the afternoon of July 13 for the benefit of the Ladies Reading Circle of Olathe. He was introduced to members of the group by Kathy Crumrine, the wife of club member Ralph Crumrine, N0KC.
Marty used a laptop computer onto which text and photographs had been loaded to enlighten Kathy and other members of the LRCO in better acquainting them with Ina. According to him, Ina was born in Illinois and spent her earliest years there before the Dana family moved to Johnson County, Kansas sometime between 1905 and 1910.
Marty told his listeners that Ina, like Marshall, was a schoolteacher for many years, but he couldn't say with any certainty how the two of them actually met. He did report, however, that they "tied the knot," as they say, in June of 1930 at the Dana farm, which was located a mile to the north of what would become Gardner Lake, and that a camping trip through some of the western states immediately followed.
After stepping away from the classroom in the late 1940s, Marty related, Ina began working at the Olathe Public Library, a Carnegie library, and continued to do so into the mid-1960s. By the way, the LRCO, which dates back to 1883, is responsible for the founding of the library, according to the group's Facebook page.
A highlight of Marty's presentation were the four handwritten letters he shared in part with his audience, chatty letters penned by Ina that were sent to Loretta from Seattle, Washington in 1945. Marshall, then in his mid-40s, was serving in the Navy at that time and putting his considerable radio skills to good use during World War II.
In addition to Ralph Crumrine, two other club members, my mother, Peg Nichols, KDØVQO, and myself, were among Marty's listeners. And so was Bob Breyfogle, the husband of Carolyn Breyfogle, the hostess for the July meeting of the LRCO.
