Pete Radding '63

**Bob, W8ZA, and Dallas, W3PP, look over the shoulder of Pete, W2GJ/C6APR, while calculating the weight and balance for the trip. [Robert Biss, W8ZA, Photo]**

**Dallas, W3PP tunes the 80/160 meter vertical under the watchful eye of Pete, W2GJ/C6APR. [Robert Biss, W8ZA, Photo]**

Brother • Class Of 1963

Peter Radding

Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Engineer, HAM, Pilot, Mentor, Family Man, Peter Radding, 69, of North Charleston, husband of Tina Radding, died Wednesday, October 21st, 2009. Mr. Radding was born on December 25, 1939 in Mineola, NY, son of the late Earl and Edna Radding. He was a graduate of Seaford High School in Delaware and received his Bachelors of Science degree in Industrial Distribution from Clarkson University in 1963. After graduation, Peter worked for Corning his entire 35 year career in various technical, sales, marketing, and management capacities. He helped forge Corning's vision in telecommunication and fiber optics. Peter had numerous hobbies that became his passions over his lifetime. He was a HAM radio operator for 57 years and utilized these skills for numerous emergency response disasters. Peter's largest passion was his love of aviation. A pilot for over 20 years, he was recognized by the State of Delaware House of Representatives for his "outstanding service to his fellow man by using his aircraft for the purpose of mercy". He donated his time and use of his plane through Angel Flights to transport critically ill adults and children. In 1999, he received the Angel Flight Pilot of the Year award. After his retirement from Corning, Peter utilized his mentoring skills as a business consultant and served on numerous management boards. Family was Peter's highest priority with emphasis on education, high ethics, and social commitment. He was a devoted husband, father, grandfather, spending countless hours in scouting and other family activities. Peter received an alumni honor, the Golden Knight Award in 1998, for his devoted and committed service in the growth of the Clarkson University Alumni Association from a regional to national organization. Peter is survived by his wife Tina, son Peter Radding and his wife Jill of Wake Forest, NC; daughter Nicole Havert and her husband Tim of Palmer, Alaska; 4 grandchildren: Trent and Grant Radding and Jordan and Anderson Havert; and brother Wilson Radding and his wife Terry Reeves of Greensboro, NC. A memorial service will be held at 10am Monday, October 26th at St. Thomas Catholic Church in North Charleston. A gathering of family and friends will be held at James A. Dyal Funeral Home, Summerville from 6 until 9 Sunday evening, October 25th. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Mercy Flight Southeast at www.mercyflightse.com; Boy Scouts of America Troop 500, 9535 White Carriage Drive, Wake Forest, NC 27587; or a charity of one's choice.

It is with great sadness that I pass along this death notice. Our beloved friend and brother Pete Radding died today (Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2009) in a plane crash near Charleston SC. Following is an initial news report published in the Charleston Post and Courier:
JEDBURG, S.C. - A small plane crashed shortly after departure and burst into flames early Wednesday morning in South Carolina, killing four friends heading to an amateur radio convention in the Bahamas. The plane was registered to Peter Radding of North Charleston, a board member of the AngelFlights organization. Radding had been flying for 40 years,
The plane climbed above the trees to between 100 and 150 feet in the air before something caused it to make a sharp U-turn and then crash into a wooded area near the Summerville airport, not far from the coast, Dorchester County Coroner Chris Nesbit said. Nesbit identified the dead as the pilotand plane's owner, Peter Radding of North Charleston, and passengers Edwin Steeble and James Randolph Hargenrader, both of Summervile. The fourth victim was from Delaware, but Nesbit didn't release other information because his family had not been contacted.
The twin-engine Piper PA-23, which seats six and was built in 1976, crashed around 6:20 a.m. and was engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived at the scene in a rural area northwest of Jedburg, Dorchester County Administrator Jason Ward said. Investigators were hindered by the flaming wreckage and "charred foliage" at the scene.
The men were flying to Fort Pierce, Fla., and then on to the Bahamas for a ham radio convention, Nesbit said. Radding had been flying for 40 years, and Hargenrader was also a licensed pilot, he said."
This profound tragedy will leave us all saddened and numb. I regret bringing you this sad news, but wanted to begin to get the word out. I plan to try and reach Tina tomorrow or at least talk with someone who may be spending time with her. I will offer any help that the brothers or Clarkson can give, and ask that we be notified of any further arrangements being made.
Stub Estey

Dave Richardson '63
Pete Radding - leadership was written all through his DNA. Pete was always willing to take on tasks, to gain a successful conclusion whether it was Dorm stuff, student council responsibilities, fraternity issues, whatever, he handled it.
A great guy who, by the way, was planning on attending our spring reunion. He will be missed.
Bergie

Sorry to hear about Pete's passing. Pete was a good frend of mine and, I know he was also a great friend of Paul Yonke, a fellow ham radio guy, who passed away some time ago. We will all miss him. Thank you for sharing the info.
Tom LaDue

I met Pete my first afternoon at Clarkson in September 1960 - he was a Jr. Resident Asst. in my dorm. Later I met him through rushing and got to know him through Lambda/DU social fraternity as "the oldest guy I knew" who was only one year older than I (something about maturity and being a great politician) and, at the same time, the "youngest bald-headed chicken plucker" around (a title of sort left over from the '61 Hell Week).
Pete and Tina lived for many years in southern tier New York while he worked his way up through some very important positions with Corning, Inc., principally involved in the new technology (at that time) of fiber optic communications. Pete was also an avid ham radio operator from the early days.That experience landed him the volunteer position of communications director for the Watkins Glen Auto racetrack after the Corning Company bought it.
It was during that time that Pete became a licensed pilot and began a lifetime of community involvement that continued throughout his life.  He volunteered for Mercy Flight Southeast, transporting critically ill patients by air, and Young Eagles, a program that introduced young people to flying. He was a board member of the Coosaw Creek Disaster Preparedness Committee.
Pete and Tina relocated to North Carolina in the 90's, where as CEO he headed up a Corning, Inc. spin-off, Omega One Communications, LLC, in Summerville, SC, manufacturing communications cable.  Corning, Inc. integrated Omega One into Corning Cable Systems' cable and hardware business in November 2000.
Remembering his Alma Mater, Pete was a valuable member of the Clarkson University Alumni National Executive Council.  In 1998, Clarkson University, awarded Pete with their highest alumni honor, The Golden Knight Award, for his career achievements and community service.
Chuck Phillips '64

Marge and I attended the events for Pete Radding in North Charleston.
As announced there was a gathering at the Dyal Funeral home on Sunday.
The gathering was like a wake but called gathering because it was held in one room for the three men who lived in North Charleston and Summerville. So Pete's family was in the same room as the other two families.  There were hundreds of visitors for the three families.   We waited for more than an hour to get in to see Tina and the rest of Pete's family!    We saw Lynn Pagliaro there.  Because of the crowd we can only spend a few precious minutes with Pete's family.
Monday morning  was the funeral mass at the church.  This was for only Pete so the crowd wasn't as large as the night before but still impressive since the church was just about full. Lynn and his wife were there as well. The mass was followed by a reception at the Golf Club house on the same street where the Raddings live.   We had more time to talk to Tina and and the family.  We met and ate the lunch with Steve Newkofsky and Skip Leonard from Clarkson.  They made the trip to honor Pete for his work with the school.  The group was asked if they wanted to say anything about Pete.  As the mic was passed around  Skid Leonard spoke  on behalf of  President Collins and reaffirmed the feelings the school has for Pete.   When the mic came to me I reported to everyone that Pete was the only guy I know who had no middle initial.  It was just Peter Radding.   I use to tease him about it and  then i repeated a statement I made to him years ago; the only person I know, other than Pete who had no middle name was Jesus  Christ.  Now they are together.
As you all know, this is an awful tragedy. We were in contact with Pete and Tina through all these years.  Sometimes frequently while other times not as frequent.  We were planning on getting together this coming weekend when Pete was going to fly to Langely airfield.  We were even making plans for a cruise next fall.    I am so glad that we were able to make the trip.  Marge and I just felt we had to be there.
Jim Joseph

Life changed instantly for Tina Radding last Wednesday morning. Now she's concerned too much attention is directed toward her husband, Pete, and not enough toward his three buddies who were also genuinely good men.
Humility and humanity were traits shared equally in the Radding marriage.
Pete Radding's 30-year-old twin-engine Piper Aztec was his tool for good deeds. He kept it in impeccable condition and he was a precise and experienced pilot.
Wednesday morning, Pete and his friends, Randy, Ed, and Dallas were headed to the Bahamas to compete in an international contest among "ham" radio operators. They were a foursome of older men who enjoyed the universe of short- wave radio and its power to link the world, especially at times when the world needed them.
An hour before sunrise, the Aztec rolled out of hangar 2-6 and down the runway at the Summerville airport. This was a familiar operation for Pete; he had scores of takeoffs from this airport, in this plane.
Fate, we now know, waited in the darkness.
In an instant, the four good men had perished, four families were grieving, and the fraternity of amateur radio operators all over the world saddened. We are left to ponder the mysterious cruelty of fate -- and the good works of men whose lives will long be remembered for all the right reasons.
Randy Hargenrader and Ed Steeble of Summerville, and Dallas Carter of Laurel, Del., died with Pete Radding. Randy was also a pilot and was sitting in the co-pilot's seat. He and Ed were among the more than 300 amateur radio operators licensed in the Summerville zip code. Dallas and Pete were former neighbors in Delaware, and Dallas had traveled from his Laurel home to join the group.
The team had made this trip before aboard Radding's plane. In the "ham" world, they were best known by their station and call signs. Randy was K4QO, Ed was K3IXD, Dallas, W3PP, and Pete, W2GJ. As a team primed for another international competition in Nassau, they were assigned the designation C6APR. The National Association of Amateur Radio's Website has posted a 2008 picture of Pete, Dallas and Ed in front of Pete's plane. Randy's not in it; apparently he took the picture.
These men were proud to be called "hams." They were among the six million unpaid amateur radio operators around the world. Using their personal equipment and through networks of colleagues, these folks facilitate communications by the thousands during large and small emergencies and natural disasters throughout the world. Randy's wife, Shellie Hargenrader, also is licensed "ham," operating as KI4ZMY
Most of the time, "hams" perform anonymously -- loving the challenge of executing communications in a format that does not always depend on splendid technology, and enjoying a keen sense of helping when help is needed most.
In North Charleston's Coosaw Creek community, Pete Radding was our friend, our neighbor -- and the perfect example of someone who loved life and lived a darn good one, taking care of his family and just about anyone else who needed him. The horrible news struck our neighborhood like a thunderclap that cool morning, followed by penetrating sorrow.
Inexplicably, Tina Radding learned of her husband's fate when an Associated Press reporter called the Radding home shortly after the crash.
And then news reports tended to focus on Pete's more readily available career record and his community service. That bothered Tina who knew Randy, Ed and Dallas as Pete's good friends. If reporters were to get it right, Tina believed, they must understand this was a four-part tragedy and all four men were respected and esteemed -- and loved by their grieving families.
Pete would have been proud of his Tina. He was an ultra-modest Renaissance man. "Retirement" was simply a time-bank he controlled. His hobbies became expressions of his humanity. He had fun doing good and seemed never in need of acclamation or reward.
He was active in the Mercy Flight operations, piloting his plane to ferry critically ill patients and their families to medical facilities all over the country. He served on the Mercy Flight Southeast Board of Directors and helped recruit other plane owners and pilots to its service.
Pete was a witty, unassuming intellectual who embraced technology and valued fundamentals. He was an expert practitioner of Morse code. For him, Samuel Morse's dots and ashes were not just some esoteric communication system.
He urged young people to learn the code and nurture its history "... because Morse code is the story of modern communications, and in certain emergencies, a universal language."
Morse coding teen-agers, he once humorously declared, could complete a text message faster than anyone using the smartest of smart phones. The problem in proving his point, he acknowledged, was finding two teens trained in Morse code.
Thanks to the international amateur radio system, folks who had never met Randy, Ed, Dallas and Pete knew them well. The amateur radio enthusiasts' Web site, QRZ.com, has posted an 11-page thread of memorial messages from all over the world. It's a compilation that documents each man's professionalism and contributions to the wonderful world of amateur radio operators.
Many of these messages include touching expressions in the fraternal numerical code of "ham" operators. Randy, Ed, Dallas and Pete would have been proud.
Their families will be comforted.
Ron Brinson

LambdaDU LambdaDUApril 26, 2017Comment