“Bea Lines” Says Goodbye
Reprinted from "Crown Jewels of the Wire", December 1996, page 22
This is my last interview for “Bea Lines”, and I have thoroughly enjoyed
participating in the hobby in this way. I have had the pleasure of knowing
personally all 33 collectors interviewed in 26 articles (some stories were on
couples). I chose high as well as low profile people; dealers, authors,
collectors, long- as well as short-timers, and I count all of them as my
friends. I thank you all for taking the time to be a part of “Bea Lines”.
Each of you was most generous with your personal information and photos, which
made my job much easier. I am listing you below, along with the month, year, and
page number in the Crown Jewels of the Wire in which your biography appeared,
and the state or province in which you lived at the time of your interview. (To
read the “History of ‘Bea Lines’” through November 1993, please see that
issue, page 24.)
“Bea Lines” ran for 11 years 6 months; from June 1985 through December
1996. I “traveled” to 13 states and 2 Canadian provinces, and visited 5
western, 3 midwestern, and 5 eastern states. This was not by accident but by
design, so that all 3 regions would be represented more or less equally. I
interviewed a total of 18 westerners, 7 midwesterners, 6 easterners, and 2
Canadians, making the column an international one. Following is the breakdown on
states and provinces, along with the number of times they were visited: Alaska,
1; California, 5; Florida, 1; Illinois, 1; Missouri, 3; Montana, 1; New York, 1;
Oklahoma, 1; Pennsylvania, 2; Texas, 3; Utah, 1; Washington, 3; Wisconsin, 1;
Ontario and Quebec, Canada, 1 each.
I want to thank Dora Harned, editor of Insulators-Crown Jewels of the Wire
for 16 years and 2 months, who showed much enthusiasm for my idea. She allowed
me to announce “Bea Lines” in her last issue before her retirement (see CJ
5-85-6), adding a nice endorsement in an “Editor's Note” on that same page.
Dora, you were the first one to have faith in my idea and I thank you for your
encouragement. I also thank Carol McDougald, editor of this magazine now for
over 11 years, who took up where Dora left off, willingly accepted my idea, and
published every interview without editing one word. Thanx, Carol, for your
generosity, your patience with my sporadic contributions, and your enthusiasm
and support of “Bea Lines”. I have been humbly proud (?) to have my name
listed in the front of your magazine as “Bea Lines” Editor. That was an
unexpected perk, and a real honor.
I will miss writing “Bea Lines”. However,
a similar column will now be done by Richard Wentzel of Millville, New Jersey,
who answered the call for a volunteer, graciously offering to continue with a
collector profile column. Richard, I wish you well, and hope you enjoy this
aspect of the hobby as much as I have. I'm very much looking forward to reading
your column in the future.
H. G. “Bea” Hyve
Interviewees in Alphabetical Order
|
Adams, Bob & Phoebe
|
4-86-03
|
FL
|
Albers, Marilyn
|
4-87-12
|
TX
|
Allmon, Charlie
|
7-86-38
|
MO
|
Anthony, Dwayne
|
3-93-22
|
CA
|
Bridges, Jeanne
|
3-92-17
|
WA
|
Brown, Andy & Violet
|
5-95-15
|
WA
|
Doty, James
|
5-94-08
|
CA
|
Gish, Elton
|
9-89-04
|
TX
|
Guthrie, Mike
|
7-87-20
|
CA
|
Halpin, Eric
|
7-91-13
|
ONT
|
Harned, Don & Dora
|
3-89-09
|
CA
|
Hedges, Chris
|
11-85-11
|
MO
|
Kammerer, George
|
6-89-12
|
QUE
|
Lowe, Ed & Dorothy
|
5-91-08
|
UT
|
McCurty, Jeff
|
12-86-18
|
NY
|
Merritt, Carolyn
|
8-96-09
|
OK
|
Milek, John
|
9-92-15
|
PA
|
Milholland, Marion & Evelyn
|
6-85-09 & 7-85-15
|
WA
|
Miller, Marvin & Vicki
|
11-90-23
|
MT
|
Rosenberger, Paul
|
5-88-15
|
IL
|
Sternke, Timothy
|
11-94-19
|
WI
|
Wambold, Claude
|
11-95-27
|
PA
|
Warren, Bernard & Madeline
|
2-91-28
|
AK
|
Weber, Dennis & Jeanne
|
2-90-08
|
MO
|
Woodward, N. R.
|
12-96-10
|
TX
|
Young, Bruce
|
8-88-09
|
CA
|
|