SK_Tribou, Kendrick Hill

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Commander Kendrick H. Tribou, USNR (Retired), was a member of the Navy Amateur Radio community from the late 1950's and Navy-Marine Corps MARS from its inception in 1962 through the early 1970's. Born in Plymouth, MA son of Kendrick H. Tribou and Grace (Whitaker) Tribou he graduated from Middleboro High School in 1942 and then entered the Naval Aviation Cadet School, receiving his wings in 1944. Marrying Mildred Irene Cushing after earning his wings, his first assignment was as an instrument instructor at NAS Pensacola, Florida. Ken began his ham activities in Millington, TN in 1957 and continued throughout his career at various duty stations such as Midway Island, NAS Dallas, Quonset Point and at NAS Weymouth, MA. In 1967, he was promoted to Commander and transferred to Quonset Point, RI. While serving at Quonset Point he was the Assistant RI Area MARS Coordinator. I know he enjoyed his ham radio and meeting people and helping people around the world. MARS is a wonderful group of people and has helped many families with their dedication in locating family members and friends. My father truly enjoyed the many times he assisted helping people via the MARS Network.

I can vividly recall as a child listening from my darkened bedroom as my father "C-Que'd" well into the early morning hours to search the "waves" in order to talk to some exciting new found "ham'er". When we were living on Midway Island in 1960 my father participated in major testing of the MARS Radio Relay Network and flew to Wake Island and had the fun of living in a tent for a week on the hot island working 12 hour shifts relaying messages in a Worldwide Test. I know he has tons of ham radio post cards from fellow hamer's and various awards for his dedication to MARS. There is one exciting thing I can tell you. Somehow my Dad acquired a Teletype Machine from MARS. In 1961 we moved to NAS Dallas Texas and we lived in Irving, Texas. Every workday, he would drive the eight miles back to our home for a quick lunch and for fun would turn the teletype on to get the "latest news". I was in 9th Grade at the time and went to school at MacArthur High School. On Friday, November 22, 1963 my Dad came home a little earlier than usual and as usual turned on his Teletype. Well you guessed it, my Dad recorded the UPI Newsprint of the first shots of the Kennedy assassination going out to the news groups. He never realized the importance of preserving the teletype print, but I did as I created a scrapbook of the news clippings and had it in with them. The book is now gone, but I did have the foresight to take pictures (see Kennedy Newsflash).

Ken ended his career with the US Naval Reserve at NAS Weymouth, MA in 1972. Married for 59 years Ken & Mildred raised two sons Kendrick Henry Edward D and a daughter Michelle Grace. Ken’s thirty years of service saw him participate in World War II, Korea and Vietnam. Besides ham radio and flying, Ken enjoyed woodworking and taking his motor home to Frostproof, FL and staying over the winter months. He was a member of the Retired Officers Association of Cape Cod and a 50-year member of the Dalhousie Masonic Lodge in Newtonville.

Kendrick Hill Tribou passed away at 78 in the early afternoon on April 22, 2003 in Hyannis, MA and is buried at the Massachusetts National Cemetery, Bourne, MA. He has left many wonderful memories for all.