I'm very lucky in my life to have some of the best friends ever. They're scattered all over Canada, and I know if anything bad was to happen I could count on them 100%.
Kieran Shepherd, VA3KS, was one of those friends. We share an interest, POTA, that we both enjoy very much. We both like doing portable operating in quiet places away from the intense RF noisy areas we live in, and we both enjoy camping and hiking.
Kieran and I have done many shared activations over the past 3 years, travelling to meet up at remote spots, so we could spend a few hours together "playing radio". Portland Bay Conservation Area was one of our favourite spots, a few hours activating the conservation area, Fish and Chips and a Pint for lunch at the Portland Restaurant, a few more hours on the radio, and then we each head for home. A perfect radio day.
Next spring I'm planning a 30 day road trip to activate some of the remote, and not so remote POTA parks in Western Canada. At the same time Kieran was planning a trip to Nevada to visit his son and grandkids, we were trying to figure out how to meet up in Alberta and drive the return trip in convoy, activating more parks as we travelled.
These plans, and future plans came to a screeching halt early yesterday morning when I received an email from Jennifer, Kierans wife, letting me know he had passed away suddenly, and totally unexpected, during Thursday night. He was 64 years old.
Kieran was a great friend to me, and I learned a great deal from him about portable operating and POTA. I valued his advice. He was a prolific POTA activator with 563 activations completed. His last activation was on the morning of Thursday, November 23rd, the day we lost him.
His passing serves to teach us that any one of us could go at any time, we have no control over that. So don't wait to start doing your bucket list, time is valuable, and short.
Goodbye old friend.
Kieran Shepherd
VA3KS
January 30, 1959 – November 24, 2023
