Topic: Paul Valois, N1ELL, SK

[W1RC]

I am sure that many of the amateurs from the Montreal area and Northern Vermont knew and will remember Paul Valois, N1ELL.  On the eve of NEAR-Fest VI it saddened me deeply to report that my old friend was tragically killed Wednesday September 23rd 2009 while attempting to land his Cessna 210 at the small airport at Hilltop Lakes, Texas.

I first met Paul when he was living in Montreal in the mid 1970s when he was working at Motorola.    WA1QQX was the callsign he used at the time.  Paul was an excellent trouble-shooter and technician.  He helped me assemble a Motorola HT220 from parts I had scrounged up at the Rochester NY hamfest we both attended one year.  It's ironic that he died at the very time I was involved in working on the Motorola portables we use for the Deerfield Fair radio project.

Originally a "Frenchie"  from Rhode Island, Paul relocated to Montreal to immerse himself in his ancestral French Canadian culture and perfect his knowledge of the language.  He spoke both English (with a heavy RI accent) and French (with a heavy RI accent) fluently.  Paul married Sylvie and in the 1980s they moved to the Burlington VT area where he started a successful paging business.  They had two daughters.

Paul built and operated two repeaters; one on Covey Hill in Hemmingford Quebec on 146.685 MHz and the other on top of Mount Mansfield in Northern Vermont on 145.470 MHz which bears his callsign.  In the early 1980s Paul asked me to be the trustee of the Covey Hill repeater because he didn't hold a Canadian amateur radio license.  I was able to obtain the callsign VE2REX.  We called it the "King of Repeaters" and sure had a lot of fun on that repeater in those days.  After I relocated to the USA in 1990 Paul I handed over the VE2REX license and trusteeship to a local club that had just been formed.  They now operates several repeaters from that site and it has become a very active club in the Chateauguay Valley region of Quebec and northern New York State.

In addition to amateur radio, Paul loved flying his Cessna 210.  I last saw Paul at the Northern Vermont Hamfest at Colchester in February 2009 and invited him to attend NEAR-Fest V as my guest.  He said he could not make it in May because he was already booked for Dayton but would love to come to NEAR-Fest VI in October.  I was looking forward to seeing Paul and it saddens me now to know that he will never make it.

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/burlingtonfreepress/obituary.aspx?n=paul-l-valois&pid=133502851

A minute of silence will be observed at NEAR-Fest VI just prior to the ceremonial Opening of the Gate in honor and memory of Paul N1ELL and the other amateur radio operators who have joined the ranks of silent keys since we last convened the NEAR-Fest last May.

Rest in peace, my friend.

73,

MisterMike