Victor R. Cass, 77, Whose Love Of Ham Radio Guided His Travels

The funeral notice yesterday said, "Victor R. Cass, W7FCK."

Radio had been Mr. Cass' boyhood passion, the basis of his profession and even had led him to Sibyl, his wife of 48 years. It was only fitting that his radio call sign - W7FCK - be featured prominently upon his death.

Mr. Cass died Thursday at his Seattle home at the age of 77. A service is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday at Haller Lake United Methodist Church, 13055 First Ave. N.E.

Even at Haller Lake United Methodist, Mr. Cass demonstrated his keen interest in radio and related equipment.

It seems he recognized a problem with the PA system at services in recent years; he solved that problem by volunteering to maintainthe PA system. And in a teaching gesture his family says was typical of him, he recently taught two kids in the congregation how to keep the system operating.

"He never got a college degree, but he was a teacher every day," said his daughter, Linda Beach Noon, of Kirkland, herself an elementary-school teacher.

He was born July 12, 1915, in Laclede, Idaho. His family moved to Seattle in 1917. Mr. Cass graduated from Ballard High School in 1934, then studied for 1 1/2 years at the University of Washington.

It was a year Mr. Cass spent at Maple Springs in Whatcom County, during his sophomore year in high school, that had a profound impact on his life.

At the Maple Springs home of his life-long buddy Jack Frost, Mr. Cass first dabbled in radio. He earned his amateur radio's license in 1935.

First it was a crystal set. Then later he worked as a messenger with Postal Telegraph. He was drafted in 1941. He ended up as a teacher in Army communications schools in the South, where he met his future wife, then a nurse, in Hope, Ark. They married Dec. 23, 1944.

Then he was sent to the Philippines. There, he witnessed the massive preparations for an invasion of Japan that the atomic bomb precluded.

Stateside, he went to work for Pacific Northwest Bell in 1946 and retired from the phone company in 1982. He installed phone systems and worked as a data technician. He was one of the phone-company workers at the 1960 Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles.

"When we were kids, Dad's radio set was 6 feet wide and went floor to ceiling," said his daughter, Beverly Race, of Bellingham. "Eventually he had a thing he could hold in his hand that could transmit and receive."

Radio led Mr. and Mrs. Cass to many places in their recreational vehicle, to match up the faces with the voices that had crackled over the radio waves.

And he and Jack Frost had a standing appointment to talk over the radio phone - 4:30 p.m., each Thursday. Frost recalls more than being a radio buff, though.

"I've never been a guy to go out socially much," says Frost, "but Victor, he made sure back then that we got around to all these country dances."

Mr. Cass was a joiner. He was of course a member of the Quarter Century Wireless Association (folks who have their licenses at least 25 years). He also belonged to the Northend Amateur Radio Club, Lake City Elks, Lake City Camera Club; and Snokies RV Club.

Besides his daughters, he leaves a son, Roger, of Bothell. Survivors also include a sister, Veda Welch, of Renton.

Mr. Cass was ill recently, but radio never seemed far from his mind. The night before he died he was chatting with some of his six grandchildren about his latest project.

He planned to use a modem to hook up his personal computer to his ham radio.