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Ralph L. 'Bud' Weir Brownsville, TX QCWA # 14057 Chapter 101 |
Ralph L. (Bud) Weir Jr., 86, of Colorado Springs, Colo., died in his home on Feb. 27, 2008, of natural causes. Bud Weir was born July 30, 1921, in Bartlesville, Okla., the son of Ralph L Weir Sr. and Mary Clifton Rowland Weir. Bud had a long and illustrious life.
He spent his boyhood in Parsons, Kan., and upon finishing high school there moved to Topeka to work as a sergeant of arms for Governor Ratner for a short period of time before attending the University of Kansas. While at KU, Bud was a member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity and graduated with a degree in electrical engineering in 1944. While in college, Bud met and fell in love with Barbara Ann Barber and they were married on July 15, 1944; they were happily married for 63 years. Bud joined the U.S. Navy, where he specialized in radio, radar, sonar and electronic development.
He was honorably discharged in 1946. One of Bud's driving forces in his life was his insatiable love for electronics, radio and television. So in 1947, Bud and Barbara moved to Junction City, where they established a home while Bud pursued his dream of building a radio station.
Bud literally built his own station from the ground up, and on May 14, 1949, KJCK officially went on the air for the first time. In 1953, as television began to gain popularity, Bud teamed up with his friend Bob Weary to develop a way to bring television signals to smaller communities. Bud's idea was to put a tall tower between Kansas City and Junction City to accept microwave TV signals and then carry them to the homes through a cable. Eventually they had at least 20 successful cable systems, and when sold in 1979, their company (Communication Services Inc.) was one of the largest cable providers in the nation. This illustrates that Bud was a pioneer in the cable business. Bud also participated in many other business ventures in this period including banking, a bowling alley and a hog farm. Bud had a very active life, including traveling, learning to fly (he owned his own plane), golf and tennis, just to name a few.
He had many hobbies; he loved building model railroads, eating chocolate and was an avid HAM radio operator from his early teens. Bud and Barbara's interests included generous philanthropic endowments to various churches, museums, universities and other organizations. Bud was a Mason and a member of the Isis Shrine. JC Daily Union February 29, 2008