Our friend and fellow ham Bud Allain AC6WR passed away on Friday, June 22 2018. Any visitor to the club station on Saturdays knew Bud. He was our “Assistant Shackmaster” for a few years and would drive all the way down from Buellton just to open the shack at 9am and close at 12pm. He would make the coffee, clean the room and take out the trash thanklessly every week. If you had a problem with a radio, Bud would take it home and fix it. He never complained, never late, and rarely missed a Saturday. He was a great guy, and we’ll miss him.
Bud’s obituary, written by his daughter Kathy,
Bud Allain passed away unexpectedly surrounded by family, Friday, June 22, 2018. He was born July 10, 1930, in Marshfield, Wisconsin.
Bud was preceded in death by his wife Gini Allain. He is survived by his daughters Kathy Allain, Sandra (Cheryl Chyla) Allain and his son Buddy (Kelley) Allain; four grandchildren, Zackary, Travis, Megan (Nick Davy), Austin, and four great grandchildren, Brayden, Lyla, Grayson and Emersyn; his sister Delores Knight of Stillwater, OK, and brother James (Kay) Allain of Clinton, IA.
In 1972 Bud and family moved from Wisconsin to Goleta as part of a job transfer with Delco Electronics, his employer until he retired as an engineer in 1993. For the next 10 years, he volunteered for Habitat for Humanity working tirelessly on several projects in the Santa Barbara community. In 2003, Bud and Gini moved to Buellton where his passion for ham radios rekindled. He was an active member in the Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club and would drive to SB each Saturday to participate in meetings, assist with club business and just hang out with club members. Word also spread in the valley that there was an expert tube radio repairman who could fix any radio, no matter the condition or age!
You were a rare soul and you will be missed, dad.
A funeral mass will be held Friday, July 6, 10:00am, at Old Mission Santa Ines in Solvang. A committal service will follow at Calvary Cemetery in Santa Barbara.
From Darryl KF6DI
On March 16, 1998, this tall, quiet, kindly fellow named ‘Bud’ Allain came to the third session of the Technician classes I was teaching at the Goleta Valley Community Hospital and asked if he could join the class. Of course I threw him out! Just kidding. I found out later that he could have taught the class, too. BTW, the hospital allowed us to use the downstairs classroom for 10 sessions twice a year for several years. Bud asked and commented most intellectually during the classes. Later, he told me that he had previously held an engineering position at American Telephone and Telegraph Company —AT&T.
He took and passed the Technician exam and became KF6DZD. For Bud, it wasn’t too difficult a task to learn what was needed to be able to pass the General class exam and, subsequently, the Amateur Extra exam, becoming AC6WR.
If you have ever had a chance to study all the hieroglyphics on the chalk board in the Club’s outer room at the Red Cross, you might wonder whom you could credit that to. Of course, our Shackmaster – Bud! If you ever had a technical question that was difficult to find an answer to, all you had to do was save it for Saturday morning and ask Bud at the Club station. You would get your answer. Bud was always the first one there, after driving all the way from his home in Buellton, in order to make that delicious coffee that he made. And, he was always the last to leave after locking up the shack.
I will miss you, Bud. It was great having you in my class so long ago. It was also great seeing your smiling face whenever I paid a visit to the Club station. 73 my good friend. Didididahdidah
Darryl, KF6DI
Post expires at 2:36pm on Saturday July 21st, 2018 but will still be available in the archives.
