In memory of our friend,
John "Arthur" Alvarez - N5KTN (ex-KB5CKR)
December 31, 1937 - January 29, 2015
Arthur, N5KTN passed away on January 29, 2015 after a brief illness with three of his four children at his side. He was born December 31, 1937. That meant his parents missed out on winning a new Maytag washing machine for the first baby of the New year 1938! He lived in Houston his entire life except for a stint in the Army. After retiring from a banking career with Chase, he started a home inspection business.
One of Arthur's grade school classmates from the Poe School recalled that one of his teachers, Miss Nentwig said that he and his friends were a group of "geniuses" because she know of no one else that had a kindergarten reunion. As the son of a doctor, Arthur brought mercury to school so they could shine their dimes and share other medical information. He and one of his friends thought of themselves as cartoonists and created a comic strip called "Dr. O'Dell".
Arthur was first licensed in the mid-1980's. After passing his extra class exam and 20 wpm test, he changed his callsign from KB5CKR to N5KTN. He joined the Texas DX Society in 2004 with member number 157. He enjoyed chasing DX. In past years, he served TDXS as Program Chairman, and club Secretary. He had a special affection for Icom radios and amassed quite a collection of them.
He is survived by his daughter Starr Zalenski of Houston, and sons John Arthur Alvarez III, Ray Alvarez, and Matthews Alvarez.