[AARA] Anselm Hollingsworth - WA5SQO - Silent Key

[Herman Campbell]

Below is the obituary on one of our old ham operators, Brother Anselm, 
real name Bill Hollingsworth.
Frank, Deborah and I were so lucky to have met him over 10 or 12 years 
ago and remained in touch till the last year, when he became ill.
He was quite an operator, he had a great radio room on the top floor at 
St. Joseph Abbey, and after the fire there, he re-locataed it, but I 
never saw his new set up.
One day a week, he kept a schedule with missionaries in Central America.
One of our SK's, Cliff Whipple, used to send him equipment for the 
station and after the death of Dr. Fernandez in Franklin, who by the 
way, was the backbone of the radio activity in Franklin until his death, 
Mrs. Fernandez sent all the equipment to the abbey.
I got him interested in EchoLink a few years ago as it was difficult for 
us to communicate from St. Joseph to Morgan City both due to 
propagation, but also that the monks keep a very tight prayer schedule. 
So, the EchoLink gave him the chance every now and then to check in to 
our ARES net on Sunday afternoon.
Frank used to call him the little leprechaun, because I don't think he 
was five feet tall, but just so full of life, bouncy, always glad to see 
you, we all shared a great friendship.  He was a wonderful example of a 
ham operator in addition to being a monk.
It would be nice if his obit could be placed on the Louisiana ARRL page 
with his call, because I think a lot of people who talked to him over 
the years as "Bill" probably had no idea he was a Monk.
Thank You
Jackie KA5LMZ

*----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*
*Anselm Hollingsworth - WA5SQO  - Silent Key*

Brother Anselm Hollingsworth, O.S.B., died on 11 December at Our Lady of 
Wisdom Healthcare Center in Algiers. He was born on 6 July 1933, the 
only son of William R. Hollingsworth, Jr., and Jane Oakley 
Hollingsworth. He grew up in Jackson, MS, where his father was a noted 
painter, watercolorist and illustrator. He inherited his father's name 
and his talent as a cartoonist. His major talent was as a self-taught 
pianist with a gift for jazz improvisation, who, as a young man, headed 
his own dance band. He grew up in a Baptist household, but as a youth he 
became an Episcopalian and was received into the full communion of the 
Roman Catholic Church at the age of 24. He entered Saint Joseph Abbey 
and made profession as a monk on 29 August 1960. He was well known to 
visitors during his many years as the Abbey's principal porter; he was 
known to a much broader circle as an amateur radio operator who kept in 
touch with other operators throughout the world. He also served in 
various capacities in the business offices of the Abbey and Seminary 
College. For almost 40 years, he was the local climatological observer, 
regularly reporting to the National Weather Service as well as to local 
news outlets. He served as secretary to two abbots. He was one of the 
community's regular accompanists at liturgy, and he wrote a sizable body 
of music that is a part of the Abbey's musical patrimony. He was an avid 
naturist and, as long as his health permitted it, he took several long 
walks on the Abbey grounds every week, becoming closely acquainted with 
the wildlife of field and forest. He was especially influenced by the 
writings of Thomas Merton, and he died during the centennial year of 
Merton's birth. He was a model of monastic observance to his brothers, 
and he was noted for his ready humor. The community will receive his 
body at Vespers on Wednesday 16 December at 5:30 p.m. A Funeral Vigil 
will be held at 7:15 that evening, and the Mass of Christian Burial will 
follow on Thursday 17 December at 11:15 am at Saint Joseph Abbey Church, 
75376 River Road, St. Benedict. E.J. Fielding Funeral entrusted with the 
arrangements. Share a memory on the tribute wall at ejfieldingfh.com.


*E.J. Fielding Funeral Home & Cremation Services*
2260 W. 21st Avenue
Covington, LA 70433
(985) 892-9222
http://obits.nola.com/obituaries/nola/obituary.aspx?pid=176891598#sthash.I2Bvdmc0.dpuf
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mail.w5ddl.org/pipermail/aaraclubemaillist_w5ddl.org/attachments/20151215/91058acd/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: cfdfbaia.png
Type: image/png
Size: 25351 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://mail.w5ddl.org/pipermail/aaraclubemaillist_w5ddl.org/attachments/20151215/91058acd/attachment.png>