SILENT KEY It is with Sadness: SILENT KEY
Mary Ann Crider – SK – WA3HUP
May 14, 1924 – March 12, 2016
Mary Ann Crider, 91, formerly of Camp Hill and Lewisberry passed away on Saturday, March 12, 2016 at the Kinkora-Pythian Home in Duncannon. She had been living in a nursing home for the past few years.
Mary Ann was born in East Providence, Rhode Island on May 14, 1924 the daughter of the late Abilio Dos Santos and Rose Costa Santos.
She was a homemaker.
She was a waitress at the old Three Gables and Lombardi’s restaurants in Camp Hill.
She was a Camp Hill police officer.
While serving in the Air Force, her husband, W3GE(ex-W3HTO) urged Mary Ann to became an amateur radio operator, Novice callsign WN3HUP, which was something she deeply loved for over 40 years. An ARRL member, Crider also was on the DXCC Honor Roll.
For decades she connected hams with other hams, quietly working behind the scenes as QSL manager for a number of DXers. She was a former manager of the Third Call Area QSL Bureau. Before she became the bureau’s manager, Crider served as a sorter for 11 years. DX chasers during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s likely received QSL cards from DX stations for which she handled QSLing duties. She made friends all over the world including the late King Hussein of Jordan who was also an amateur radio operator. That friendship allowed her to be his guest several times in the 1970s.
In 2005, the ARRL Executive Committee voted unanimously to name Crider the recipient of ARRL President’s Award for her contributions to the cause of international goodwill through her long service as a QSL manager and as manager of the ARRL Third Call Area Incoming QSL Bureau. When she stepped down, the National Capitol DX Association (NCDXA) took over the bureau, with noted DXer Fred Laun, K3ZO, at the helm. At the time, Laun cited Crider’s “encyclopedic knowledge of DXCC entities and call sign prefixes…built by her work in the trenches, as illustrated by her DXCC confirmed total of 360 entities.”
There was little that Mary Ann couldn’t do and she wasn’t afraid to try something new.
She learned to paint having sold some of her paintings, knit, needlepoint, counted-cross-stitch.
Other hobbies included gardening and bowling.
While bowling she won the Quad-County Ladies 600 Tournament with a 792 series in the early 1960s.
She was a member of the Fishing Creek Salem United Methodist Church in Etters.
Mary Ann was predeceased by her husband Charles Crider, Jr, son Charles Crider, III, and several sisters and brothers.
Mary Ann is survived by her daughter Diane Welmon and husband Jerry of Geneva, Alabama, son Stephen Crider and wife Theresa of Duncannon, a sister Celeste Johannes of Rhode Island and a brother David Moura of Massachusetts.
She is also survived by grandchildren Darlene Dunn, Clayton Dressler, Lisa Strenkoski, David Crider, Kevin Crider, Jonelle Spease, and great grandchildren, Alyssa, Hope, and Julia Strenkoski, Hannah Dunn, Danton and Brayden Dressler, Alexandra and William Crider, Brenton and Korie-Ann Crider and Brooke Spease.
Visitation will be held Friday March 18, 2016 at the Myers-Harner Funeral Home, 1903 Market Street, Camp Hill from 6:00 to 8:00 PM with memorial services being held at 10:00 AM on Saturday March 19, 2016 at the funeral home. Burial will follow at Rolling Green Cemetery.
Being a life-long animal lover, especially dogs, the family requests that in lieu of flowers that a contribution be made in Mary Ann’s memory to the animal shelter of your choice or to the Kinkora-Pythian Home, 25 Cove Road Duncannon, PA 17020 which Mary Ann considered home for the past two years.
Mary Ann was the recipient of the ARRL President’s Award in 2005 for her service as the manager of the “W3” incoming QSL bureau – righting a ship that had taken on a lot of water….
For the past ten and one half years Mary Ann Crider, WA3HUP has
provided Radio Amateurs whose call sign has a three in it with
exemplary service as Manager for the ARRL Third Call Area
Incoming QSL Bureau. Her tenure has been notable for its
length of service and for the collegial atmosphere she has
nurtured among her loyal band of sorters.Ms. Crider came to the position with stellar qualifications.
Anyone who knows her has remarked over and over again how
she is a “natural” for the job. Her encyclopedic
knowledge of DXCC entities and call sign prefixes was
built by her work in the trenches, as illustrated by
her DXCC confirmed total of 360 entities including deletions
and the certificate on the wall awarded by CQ Magazine
for being the first Novice, as WN3HUP, to qualify for
that magazine’s CQ DX award.Prior to accepting the Bureau Manager position Ms. Crider
had served a total of 11 years as a sorter for the bureau.
At times she was responsible all by herself for five letters
of the alphabet. Such was her reputation and the quality
of her work that when ARRL HQ needed extra help her services
were requested and she willingly accepted. In that connection
she served for three years as a sorter for incoming packages
of QSLs arriving from overseas at ARRL HQ, and for almost three years
she also sorted and mailed the majority of QSLs for the ARRL
Outgoing QSL Bureau.In managing the bureau she is firm but fair. Where problems
arise she is quick to correct them but in a way that maintains
the devotion and friendship of her sorters. The annual luncheon
which she hosts for her sorters has the feel of a family reunion.Ms. Crider’s accomplishments have not by any means been limited
to her bureau work. She takes very seriously the Radio Amateur’s
creed to promote international friendship. In this regard she served
as long-time QSL Manager for one of Amateur Radio’s highest profile
practitioners of all time, Alhussein Ibn Talal, JY1 popularly
known as King Hussein of Jordan, right up until his untimely death.
Such was His Majesty’s appreciation for her work that on more than
one occasion he invited her to visit him in Jordan, all expenses paid.But her work as QSL manager has not been limited to service for the
high and mighty. She has performed the same function for, among
others, Radio Amateurs in Mexico and Turkey. She took on QSL
Manager chores for several beginning Amateurs in Iraq and in
the process taught them all about operating and DXing.For all of the foregoing and more, the American Radio Relay
League is proud and honored to award Mary Ann Crider, WA3HUP
its President’s Award for 2005.
