Ilion High School - Class of 1977

Source pdf file is here Herkimer NY Evening Telegram 1971 01606.pdf on fultonhistory.com

Timmy Bulson A Courageous 11-Year-Old

By Dick Frosch

"Hello Charlie, this is Timmy. I want to become a ham operator so I can talk to the other guys on the radio."

Many people up and down the East coast of this country heard those words Sunday from a ham radio station in Mohawk and the voice belonged to 11-year - old son of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Bulson of 37 Massachusetts Ave., Ilion.

What is special about this broadcast is that Timmy is physically handicapped - having been born with no arms and deformed legs.

But despite nature's setbacks, Timmy has tremendous courage and the will to succeed.

He is right along side kids of his age as a sixth grade student at Barringer Road Elementary School - even though it takes him much longer to do his homework because he has to write with his feet.

But Timmy is not content to do just the normal homework assignments he gets at school.

Timmy wants to be a ham radio operator.

This is no easy task for an adult, much less an 11-year old, but Timmy is already on his way.

On Easter Sunday, he received a surprise gift of a ham receiver from the Ziyara Shrine Temple's Crippled Children's Committee in Utica.

Tim can now receive messages and hear the other operators talking with each other, but he will have to wait for a transmitter before he can contact the other "hams."

But Sunday, Tim got a chance to "talk to the guys," using the equipment of Joseph Michaud of Mohawk.

As Sunday was the third annual International Shrine Hospital Day, the Shriners arranged to have Timmy talk to the children in the Shriners' Hospitals in Philadelphia, Pa. and Cape Elizabeth, Maine, where he had stayed as a patient.

But not only did the children in the two hospitals hear Timmy so did numerous ham operators up and down the coast who offered their aid in the transmissions because of bad weather conditions.

Tim also made a local television station in Philadelphia which used his picture and 15 seconds of his taped voice on the air.

"Hi, I'm Tim Bulson. I live at 37 Massachusetts Ave., in Ilion. Can you hear me?"

They heard Timmy all right, and talked with him for well over two hours.

Tim met "Charlie" from Philadelphia; "Lowell" in Youngstown. Ohio: "Hutch" in Cape Elizabeth: "Tim" from Fort Lauderdale. Fla., as well as other "hams" from Harrisburg, Pa.; Newcastle. Pa.; and Detroit, Mich, who did not give their "handles" (names).

Tim was a bit nervous at first - not sure of what to say, but after a short time he became more relaxed and sure of himself.

It Was Cold!

"I went to camporee Friday and Saturday with the Boy Scouts at Sherburne. It was so cold on Friday night I had to crawl into another fellows's sleeping bag with him," Tim told the kids in the two hospitals. (There was over an inch of ice on some water left out overnight.)

"Saturday we went for a five mile hike and just got back from the area this morning.", (Tim rode on the back of his I father during the hike.)

"For breakfast today pancakes and sausage, tasted good."

When you watch Tim's face as he talks, you can see the immense pleasure he gets out of the simple things in life which we take for granted.

Tenderfoot Badge

"I just got my tenderfoot badge in Boy Scouts." he beamed into the microphone with a smite that nearly reached from ear to ear.

While the station code letters such as W3FQT in Philadelphia W1BHA in Cape Elizabeth, and K2UBE in Mohawk, might have been used a little too fast for him to remember right on the spot, he did say he was already working on the Morse Code to get ready for the day he gets his transmitter.

Tim told the other hams about the sunburn be got at camporee - and sounded more proud of it than annoyed.

The whole thing started about three years ago, when Tim's grandfather got him a walkie, talkie set.

After that, he got a short wave receiver, and then the surprise gift from the Shriners of the ham receiver.

Michaud said. "Timmy has a great ability, and can tune a receiver better with his feet than I can with my hands."

"His desire to learn is tremendous."

Charles F. Groton, chairman of the crippled children's work for the area, was on hand Sunday. He also expressed his amazement on how well Timmy worked with the equipment.

Tim now gets around in a fully mobile electric chair, and after seeing this youngster in action, one would bet that he is on his way to becoming one of the best ham operators in the area.