"...most people that are creative people...are pretty much different
from the average person, they don't think the same way, they're not
motivated by the same things and...they're usually very very difficult
people to get along with. ...they're not like you or well most of us."
[The Summer of 2010, 3840khz (2:30 in the morning), Comment from Jim
(KI6GU) A rare qso on worldviews].

"Just relax a little bit...c'mon Kevin. Ya know laid there four days on
the floor, ya know and you're alive. Ya gotta be thankful for that.
C'mon man, if somebody at your work didn't have a reason to care about
you a little bit. You wouldn't be here with the rest of us. Now you
gotta be thankful for that c'mon. Lotta people have their problems and
have their issues in life. Everybody's not the same mold, everybody's
different, everybody's built different, everybody has different wants
and needs. Some people need somethin' to hang on to too make 'em feel
better. Or people...ridicule other people because they don't feel good
of themselves unless they do ridicule someone. Just c'mon...man. Just
relax." [The Summer of 2010, 3840khz (2:40 in the morning), Comment from
John "Cosmo" (KI6VPR) to AD8Q on cooling Kevs nerve because
somebody did not identify].

Jim's comment from the summer of 2010 (Tom sat back on this qso) alludes
to the youthful mindset of, shortwave maven, Tom Gleeman's (KE6YNH),
friendly personality gift. One of the nicest ham operators to operate
from the Pacific shores. Tom has passed on from a massive stroke at the
age of sixty Feb. 12 2011. (see source)

Tom Gleeman was one of the original founders of the late morning
frequency rag chew - on 3840KHz, one created by the semi-retired
broadcaster Art Bell. I will never the first time I tuned in and found
Tom and Kenny (fondly known as the Llama Man (KG6HKM) in a 2AM qso,
anybody's who was fortunate to hear Tom and Kenny in a solitary qso,
were reminded of the characters from Cervantes novel "Don Quixote". Odd
confessions like Tom admitting that in all the years living in San Diego
"he never surfed but only boogie boarded [with his spontaneous
chuckle]", exemplified his earthiness. Both Kenny and Tom in qso were
classic examples of rag chewers. I will never forget Tom's "Annnnnnyway"
punctuation and his distinctive youthful sign "This is Tom innnnnn
Sannnnn Diiiiiiiiiego" .

Tom was proud of his Chinese pen pal girlfriend, a knowledgeable
Trekkie, loved his dog (who got stuck in the dog door),
his cat, hated the 500 pound concrete table that rusted in his back
yard, and was very grateful to the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) in
addition to respecting the old dogma of shortwave communications,
he lived life to the fullest.

In the last seven months his probing conversations that at times were
taken out of context. In all sincerity, and from I what I've heard from
his qsos, his so called, contorting statements occurred when he started
taking pain killers. Somebody on qrz.com noticed the subtle change too.
Tom was more like a moderator, keeping other hams at bay from killing
each other, but at times he would rather lay low through the occasional
war zone that would erupt on 3840kHz.

Somebody at the qrz.com obituary commented Toms fondness for calling
cq. "This is Tom calling cq, calling cq, this is KE6YNH calling cq"
sometimes I heard him do that for 10 minutes and usually he'd get a
response. Right around Christmas of last year Tom commented that his
earliest memory when learning about ham radio was "he always wanted to
call cq" and was amused when he roused a senior ham from his sleep who
chastised him "Don't ever call CQ. It is a thing of the past." Always
grateful to make making a contact he acknowledged ham operators from
the East Coast of the United States, the Midwest, Alaska, Canada, South
Africa, Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Central America, Japan
and Costa Rica. What was interesting about Tom's personality, he
admitted that he would sometimes talk with non licensed operators who
were respectful and had something to say. That was so cool and
represents the young'un hams who did eventually get their tickets
because of Toms encouragement.

Let us now celebrate Tom with two nice musical selections.

Shelly Y Nueva Generacion - Vestido Azul [1966]
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bRTq3t7q0U)

The Staple Singers - Be Careful of the Stones You Throw [1964]
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBthgVHdy0g)

A moment of silence was called at Feb 18, 2010 2:29 A.M. (PST) on
3840Khz by a stellar group of fellow hams.
My condolences to Toms survivors.

sources used: http://forums.qrz.com/showthread.php...YNH-Silent-key