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<\/a>Eugene (Gene) Chase<\/strong><\/p>\n Gene was in the first group of members to join after the four founders and became a Charter Member.\u00a0 Originally from New Jersey, Gene attended RCA Institute in New York, then the New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark, finishing with degrees in Electrical Engineering and Physics.\u00a0\u00a0 He then had a career with Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, NJ as an expert in Electrostatic Discharge.\u00a0 While there, Gene worked with or knew many famous names in the industry including Shockley, Richie, Kernigan, and others.<\/p>\n Gene joined FCW in 2011 and brought with him the HO gauge railroad that he had been working on for 40 years.\u00a0 He was our railroad guru and had many “Easter Eggs”, many humorous, in the layout.\u00a0 He was also an avid woodworker and electronics<\/p>\n hobbyist.\u00a0 Gene went to many shows and Makerfaires, demonstrating electrostatics, and showing dioramas that he built.\u00a0 He had a wonderful, dry sense of humor.<\/p>\n Gene was recently in poor health, having had a battle with Covid, pneumonia, and a heart attack.\u00a0 He passed while at a nursing home near a daughter in VA.<\/p>\n The future of the railroad is unknown at this time.<\/p>\n Kay Brady<\/strong><\/p>\n Kay Brady joined FCW in 2013 and went right to work.\u00a0 She was a former contractor and carpenter and an avid woodworker.\u00a0 At the original space, Kay built walls in the Science and Stagecraft<\/p>\n areas and did considerable plumbing.\u00a0 She assisted in woodworking classes, built multiple cabinets in Science, Canteen, and Library, and worked many shows and Makerfaires.<\/p>\n After the fire, Kay scoured Realty papers and found the current building just after it was listed.\u00a0 She was on the moving crews, bringing the equipment from Charlotte, Davidson, and local areas.\u00a0 Kay built the center walls in the main and rear areas on the upper floor and a large portion of the railroad room on the lower floor.<\/p>\n Kay had multiple health problems, including seizures, diabetes, and multiple heart attacks.\u00a0 She was found dead in her home from natural causes.<\/p>\n Rich Goldner<\/strong><\/p>\n Rich Golder was one of the founding members of FCW, along with Colin, Michelle, and Dan.\u00a0 The organizational meeting took place at Rich’s house in August of 2011 with six potential members, of which the founding four put in money and became Charter Members.\u00a0 Each loaned equipment to FCW to get the shops going.\u00a0 Rich’s contribution was the original machine shop, including a metal lathe, and a Mill that he had converted to CNC.\u00a0 Rich hunted around and found our original site at the Shuford facility and negotiated a good lease price.\u00a0 He served as president of FCW for several years, and spent more years on the board of directors.<\/p>\n Rich was formerly a programmer with IBM and built custom CNC devices after retirement.\u00a0 He contributed many funds to FCW, allowing the purchase of the Full Spectrum Laser cutter at the old space and the CNC router at the current space.<\/p>\n In recent years, Rich had multiple strokes.\u00a0 He died at a nursing home in early June.<\/p>\n Rick Martinson<\/strong><\/p>\n Rick Martinson was a professional woodworker.\u00a0 Brought to FCW by Ross, Rick organized the woodshop, taught classes in woodworking and woodturning, and built several of the cabinets in the woodshop along with many personal projects.\u00a0 He fell in love with the laser cutter and made numerous wood etchings.<\/p>\n Rick had been battling multiple cancers off and on for the past five years, and recently had a heart attack, passing in early July.<\/p>\n Each of these contributed to FCW in his own way.\u00a0 They will be greatly missed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" FCW was fortunate for the first eleven years of existence in that we had no major injuries or deaths in our membership.\u00a0 Unfortunately, that changed in 2023.\u00a0 Over the past months we lost four of our members to death, all due to health problems.\u00a0 What follows is a brief tribute to them. Eugene (Gene) Chase … Continue reading A Tribute to Four of Our Own<\/span> <\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>