Cherryland Amateur Radio Club

Cherryland ARC members,

It is with deep regret that I inform you of the passing of Beverly Stoner, K8ZJU.

If you were licensed as a ham in Northern Michigan from the 1980s until recently, there’s a very good chance Beverly (and her late husband Marion) may have been a part of the Volunteer Examiner team. She was a member of the Cherryland Amateur Radio Club along with several others, and “led the charge” for many years promoting Amateur Radio and being an exemplary steward and example of the high quality and caliber of operators we all hope to some day be.

Here is a link to and a copy of the Obituary from the Record Eagle.

http://obituaries.record-eagle.com/obituary/beverley-stoner-1927-2019-1073149768

Beverly May (West) Stoner

April 22, 1927 – February 26, 2019
Beverley May West was born April 22, 1927, the first child and daughter of Ira Gordon and Ada May West in Kalamazoo. She grew up there, attending Milwood Public School and Western State High School, where she graduated in 1945.

She then became a central office operator for Michigan Bell Telephone Company and worked there and in Port Huron after her marriage to Marion J. Stoner on March 8, 1947. A son, Thomas Gordon Stoner, was born to her on April 12, 1950 and a daughter, Mary Anne Stoner, on July 18, 1953. She lived in Marysville, Detroit and Dearborn Heights while the family was growing up and was very active in the Girl Scouts of Metro Detroit.

She obtained her amateur radio license in 1961, being assigned the call sign of K8ZJU, and was very involved in handling messages for service personnel during the Vietnam War. She returned to the commercial field in 1972 by joining R.L. Polk & Co. in their Taylor office as a market planner.

After a move to the Lansing area, she attended Lansing Community College to study energy efficient housing. This information was used in designing their retirement home.

She worked for the U.S. Government during the census year 1980. She then became an office manager for Wright Line, Inc. and the substitute office manager for her husband at American Microwave and Communications. She was also a private contractor doing computer entry for Sparrow Hospital in Lansing.

She retired in 1991 to move to Frankfort with her husband. After the FCC stopped giving amateur radio license exams in 1984, Beverley and Marion were very active as amateur extra level volunteer examiners, giving exams in Traverse City and Manistee and in Ann Arbor after she moved to Dexter in 2008. She was a past president and life member of the Motor City Radio Club, a life member of the Central Michigan Amateur Radio Club, a member of the Cherryland Amateur Radio Club and the ARROW Communications Association. She was also a member of the Amateur Radio Relay League, Quarter Century Wireless Association, the Michigan Amateur Communication System and a founding member of The Auto State Young Ladies Radio Club. She was active in the Amateur Radio Emergency Service, being a trained weather spotter.

Beverley died on Feb. 26, 2019 in Ann Arbor, having been predeceased by her parents; husband Marion; brother, Arthur H. West; and daughter-in-law, Catherine Stoner.

She is survived by her son, Thomas and wife, Madeline, of Dexter; daughter, Mary Anne Nugent and husband, Jay, of Ypsilanti; grandchildren, Christopher Kane, of Canton, Charlette Stoner, of Oswego, New York, and Alexander Kane, of San Jose, California; step granddaughter, Alicia Schehr; step great-granddaughters, Ashley and Ava Schehr, of Birmingham; and three sisters-in-law, Phyllisan West, of Cape Coral, Florida, and Barbara and Jean Stoner, of Ann Arbor.

A funeral will be held at 1 p.m. Tuesday, March 12, at the Jowett Family Funeral Home, Benzonia, with Pastor Dinah Haag officiating. The family will receive friends from 11 a.m. until the time of the service.

Arrangements are by Jowett Family Funeral Home & Cremation Service. Benzonia.

(Published on March 10, 2019)