A tribute to Mr. Willie Patterson WZ6M

Hello, my name is Barry Fitchew N6VOH, and I am the Treasurer for the Los Angeles Amateur Radio Club. I would like to say a few things about my friend and mentor Mr. Willie Patterson WZ6M. I first met Willie sometime in the mid 1980’s when I joined the Los Angeles Amateur Radio Club. I was a young teenager just out of high school. Willie was one of the first people who welcomed me into the club. We developed a friendship that lasted until his untimely passing.

Approximately three weeks ago, I had a conversation with Willie about how he started in Amateur Radio and his involvement with LAARC. Willie first discovered Ham Radio sometime during his Junior year of high school when he began listening to short wave radio (SWL). While listening to foreign Broadcast he would people having conversations and discovered they were ham radio operators.

Shortly after High School, Willie entered the United States Air Force where he took several electronic courses and was introduced to Military Auxiliary Radio Service (MARS). Willie would sit in the communications room and listen to MARS operators pass information through radio transmissions to friends and family of serviceman.

After his tour in the USAF life got in the way of amateur radio, Willie started a family and went to work for the United States Postal Service.

Somewhere around 1985 Willie met a Ham Radio operator named Aaron Wright Sr., K6GSK (SK) while attending a Sorority event with his Wife (Anne). Aaron introduced Willie to the Los Angeles Amateur Radio Club and OMIK and in 1986 Willie passed his Novice class license and became KB6LDZ.

Within the next several years, Willie upgraded to Amateur Extra class and became WZ6M. Willie’s eagerness and willingness to help led him to several radio organizations such as the Western Amateur Radio Friendship Association (WARFA) where headed the VE license team. Willie directed the team of Volunteer Examiners (VE) who administered many FCC license exams over the years. The teamed headed by Willie was responsible for the licensing of many new ham radio operators. Willie was also a lifetime member of OMIK where, amongst other duties worked as the Area 6 (California) Representative. Willie was a very familiar face to OMIK and attended most of the yearly conferences. Willie was an active member of LAARC for over thirty-five years. At one point or another has held every board position within LAARC and headed numerous committees over the years. Recently due to COVID-19 Willie reinstituted the informal net on Saturday night at 7:00 PM on the clubs’ simplex frequency (144.430) to give everyone something else to do. The informal net was hugely successful and bolstered the number of check-ins on the formal net. I can remember Willie participating in almost everything the club sponsored. He will be greatly missed by all of us and I could go on for days about Willie, but I want.

I would like take a moment of silence in remembrances of Mr. William L. Patterson WZ6M a silent key.