Ed S., affectionately (?) known as “Father Ed” to RCMA Chicago Chapter and later CARMA members was a real “Character of the First Order” as my friend Rich B. would say. Ed was the Moderator, Dictator and Newsletter Editor of the RCMA-CC for years and to his credit did a lot of the legwork to make things happen. He was a guy who, if given the opportunity, would take charge and do it his way.
Ed was a pompous, officious and obsessive fellow. He had quirks that these days would probably be recognized as OCD but back then was written off as just being odd. “Odd” certainly seemed to fit the description regardless.
Ed always referred to himself with his first, middle and last names. He NEVER called himself “Ed” but seemed resigned to the fact that everyone else would. At least we didn’t call him “Eddie”, I am pretty sure he would pop an artery if anyone did. He would announce his presence with a distinctive booming East Coast voice: “I am Edward Robert Sirovy”. There was a clip from “The West Wing” where an old woman announced herself that way and it totally reminded me of our beloved Ed. (See
for the clip, go to 3:10.)
Ed was in charge of our scanner club, but I never saw him actually handle a scanner. He never brought one to a meeting (where most people would have brought several) but understand he had some at home. In newsletter articles he would write about new scanners being advertised so I knew he kept up with the times.
I never was at his home in the far west suburbs, as far as I know no one else from the club ever was, but my friend Will lived nearby and would drive past his house regularly. He had no antennas on his roof but apparently was an active ham operator. When he passed away a few years ago Will went to the estate sale and met family members who gave him some of his radio gear. There might have been a bit of a collecting problem in his final decades… He had at least a couple dozen coax lines coming out a roughly cut hole in a closet ceiling, presumably going to antennas in the attic.
Ed drove this ugly yellow Plymouth vav with fake woodgrain panels that, after the “Banana Republic” (more on that later) came around we started calling it “The Great Banana”. Weirdly for a supposed scanner guy he had no radios in it.
Ed wrote the RCMA-Chicago Chapter Newsletter for many years. I am guessing he used an IBM Selectric as I recognized the fonts. This was well before computers and desktop publishing so there were a lot of typos, handwritten corrections and other such artifacts. Mostly the Newsletters were meeting notifications but occasionally had some radio news or frequencies listed. It was this that caused his downfall as the Magnificent Leader. Some of the newer and younger members of the group itched for a more informative newsletter and more democratic leadership of the group.
He had a unique way if distributing the Newsletter. He would type it up, make whatever corrections or additions afterwords, and then have them copied. I suspect he did so at work but couldn’t be sure. He never complained about the cost of the copies, so I suspect this was the case. The subscriber list was done by stamped envelopes. You would provide him with a supply of SASE’s (Number 10 envelops only) and he would fold and stuff the newsletter and select out one envelop from each person from his box. He used 3x5 cards to separate the subscribers and would note on your envelope if you were running low so you could send him more.
Later after the Banana Republic (more on that later) came around we got away from the envelope system and just made the last page of the newsletter the mailing info, with the return address, a place for the subscriber and stamps on the bottom half of the last page and just folded it in half and taping it together (USPS didn’t want staples!). We used a FileMaker database to keep a list of subscribers and used Avery labels. A couple of us donated postage money after deciding that trying to collect a few dollars per year per subscriber just wasn’t worth the effort. Perhaps Father Ed had a point in his favor there.
The Banana Republic:
At a meeting some of us stood up and asked if we could have more frequency information in the newsletter for those who could not attend the meetings and he bellowed something to the effect of “Then write it yourself!” So, we did.
That started the “Banana Republic” as Ed called it in his final Newsletter. He pointed out that there was no election of the self-appointed new leadership that we had formed, but then again no one elected him either. We had published a newsletter a week or two before his infamous “Banana Republic” one that he was not happy about. We had all the frequencies that had been discussed in the prior meeting and actual local scanner news as well as a schedule of meeting dates for the rest of the year. One problem we had had with Ed’s newsletters as the edition announcing a meeting would often arrive the week after the meeting.
At the end of Ed’s last newsletter, he wrote in ever smaller fonts “It’s only a hobby” several times. He then wrote in a random frequency he had remembered in a margin, the only actual pertinent radio content.
Kind of in the middle of it all was John Arendt. John was another elder statesman of RCMA and CARMA. He handled club business when Ed was ill and acted as sort of an emissary between him and the young bucks. John was an interesting fellow himself and might be the subject of a story down the road. John tried to reason with Ed, and we all came to a compromise. We would have an election at the next meeting where anyone in attendance could vote on whether to retain Ed or the new slate. Both sides announced the upcoming election in their competing newsletters. At that meeting the new slate won by a vote of 35-2.
After that Ed went with the program and did not try to sabotage things, I give him credit for that. I suspect he might have been bitter, but we tried to treat him with respect afterwards. He stayed away from meetings for many years however and all of a sudden started coming to them again.
Ed was not big on computers and email so rarely, if ever participated in the CARMA Email List set up later. I heard that he had one of those email appliances that you plugged into a phone jack.
Meeting Antics:
Ed was well known for his proclivity to make his order at a specific time for a specific dish served a specific way. At the time we wrote it off as a quirky fellow’s quirks but now realize that it was likely some form of OCD. Recently I watched the TV show “The Big Bang Theory” and his quirks reminded me of the Sheldon character in many ways. (If this is Tuesday it must be Thai food…) He would order soup and when it arrived, he would follow a specific ritual. He would take a spoonful, blow it cool, tilt his head sideways back and forth with six increments, pausing at the third before ingesting the soup.
We once had a picnic/meeting at John’s house and one of our members gave a slide show on the Chicago FD dispatch center. Ed, being the expert in all things, repeatedly interrupted the presenter to interject some unnecessary factoid, some of which were actually accurate. One of the most infamous bits was “In 1967, The Chicago Fire Department…” whereupon half a dozen people shouted at him to “Shut Up Ed!”, they had had enough. From then on that became a catchphrase for some of us, we would say that for a chuckle often. Years later at another meeting we had our roundtable discussion and at Ed’s turn he stood up and started off saying “In 1967, the Chicago Fire Department…” and half of us started to laugh uncontrollably. He never got to finish what he was talking about either time; I still have no idea what the Chicago Fire Department did in 1967 that Ed wanted us all to know about. I don’t think Ed ever figured out why we were laughing so hard anyway.
Other antics:
Ed rode Metra trains into Chicago for work daily and had a habit of pacing up and down the platform at the local train station in a particular pattern. He would wear this long black trench coat everywhere, all year round, I don’t recall ever seeing him without it. As he lived down the street from my friend Will his kids knew Ed as well. Other Metra riders referred to Ed as “Weird Larry” as they did not know his real name (Ed was not a very sociable guy). When Will’s then pre-teen son talked to Ed on the platform some of the other rides swooped in to “Protect” him from “Weird Larry”, not knowing that he was known to him. As far as we knew there was nothing for the kid to worry about, Ed was never known to be THAT kind of weird.
Ed was a big proponent of passenger rail and often spoke on behalf of Metra, Amtrak and CTA projects and improvements. He was very knowledgeable about these subjects, as he was on many. He would eloquently speak on behalf of passenger rail to anyone who would listen.
Father Ed died in 2017 at 82. While we were entertained by his quirks, he was all-in-all a smart guy who did a lot to promote the scanning hobby in the Chicago area. While we chuckle at his antics he did do a lot for the scanner hobby in the Chicago area and for that he always had our respect.
Ed was a pompous, officious and obsessive fellow. He had quirks that these days would probably be recognized as OCD but back then was written off as just being odd. “Odd” certainly seemed to fit the description regardless.
Ed always referred to himself with his first, middle and last names. He NEVER called himself “Ed” but seemed resigned to the fact that everyone else would. At least we didn’t call him “Eddie”, I am pretty sure he would pop an artery if anyone did. He would announce his presence with a distinctive booming East Coast voice: “I am Edward Robert Sirovy”. There was a clip from “The West Wing” where an old woman announced herself that way and it totally reminded me of our beloved Ed. (See
Ed was in charge of our scanner club, but I never saw him actually handle a scanner. He never brought one to a meeting (where most people would have brought several) but understand he had some at home. In newsletter articles he would write about new scanners being advertised so I knew he kept up with the times.
I never was at his home in the far west suburbs, as far as I know no one else from the club ever was, but my friend Will lived nearby and would drive past his house regularly. He had no antennas on his roof but apparently was an active ham operator. When he passed away a few years ago Will went to the estate sale and met family members who gave him some of his radio gear. There might have been a bit of a collecting problem in his final decades… He had at least a couple dozen coax lines coming out a roughly cut hole in a closet ceiling, presumably going to antennas in the attic.
Ed drove this ugly yellow Plymouth vav with fake woodgrain panels that, after the “Banana Republic” (more on that later) came around we started calling it “The Great Banana”. Weirdly for a supposed scanner guy he had no radios in it.
Ed wrote the RCMA-Chicago Chapter Newsletter for many years. I am guessing he used an IBM Selectric as I recognized the fonts. This was well before computers and desktop publishing so there were a lot of typos, handwritten corrections and other such artifacts. Mostly the Newsletters were meeting notifications but occasionally had some radio news or frequencies listed. It was this that caused his downfall as the Magnificent Leader. Some of the newer and younger members of the group itched for a more informative newsletter and more democratic leadership of the group.
He had a unique way if distributing the Newsletter. He would type it up, make whatever corrections or additions afterwords, and then have them copied. I suspect he did so at work but couldn’t be sure. He never complained about the cost of the copies, so I suspect this was the case. The subscriber list was done by stamped envelopes. You would provide him with a supply of SASE’s (Number 10 envelops only) and he would fold and stuff the newsletter and select out one envelop from each person from his box. He used 3x5 cards to separate the subscribers and would note on your envelope if you were running low so you could send him more.
Later after the Banana Republic (more on that later) came around we got away from the envelope system and just made the last page of the newsletter the mailing info, with the return address, a place for the subscriber and stamps on the bottom half of the last page and just folded it in half and taping it together (USPS didn’t want staples!). We used a FileMaker database to keep a list of subscribers and used Avery labels. A couple of us donated postage money after deciding that trying to collect a few dollars per year per subscriber just wasn’t worth the effort. Perhaps Father Ed had a point in his favor there.
The Banana Republic:
At a meeting some of us stood up and asked if we could have more frequency information in the newsletter for those who could not attend the meetings and he bellowed something to the effect of “Then write it yourself!” So, we did.
That started the “Banana Republic” as Ed called it in his final Newsletter. He pointed out that there was no election of the self-appointed new leadership that we had formed, but then again no one elected him either. We had published a newsletter a week or two before his infamous “Banana Republic” one that he was not happy about. We had all the frequencies that had been discussed in the prior meeting and actual local scanner news as well as a schedule of meeting dates for the rest of the year. One problem we had had with Ed’s newsletters as the edition announcing a meeting would often arrive the week after the meeting.
At the end of Ed’s last newsletter, he wrote in ever smaller fonts “It’s only a hobby” several times. He then wrote in a random frequency he had remembered in a margin, the only actual pertinent radio content.
Kind of in the middle of it all was John Arendt. John was another elder statesman of RCMA and CARMA. He handled club business when Ed was ill and acted as sort of an emissary between him and the young bucks. John was an interesting fellow himself and might be the subject of a story down the road. John tried to reason with Ed, and we all came to a compromise. We would have an election at the next meeting where anyone in attendance could vote on whether to retain Ed or the new slate. Both sides announced the upcoming election in their competing newsletters. At that meeting the new slate won by a vote of 35-2.
After that Ed went with the program and did not try to sabotage things, I give him credit for that. I suspect he might have been bitter, but we tried to treat him with respect afterwards. He stayed away from meetings for many years however and all of a sudden started coming to them again.
Ed was not big on computers and email so rarely, if ever participated in the CARMA Email List set up later. I heard that he had one of those email appliances that you plugged into a phone jack.
Meeting Antics:
Ed was well known for his proclivity to make his order at a specific time for a specific dish served a specific way. At the time we wrote it off as a quirky fellow’s quirks but now realize that it was likely some form of OCD. Recently I watched the TV show “The Big Bang Theory” and his quirks reminded me of the Sheldon character in many ways. (If this is Tuesday it must be Thai food…) He would order soup and when it arrived, he would follow a specific ritual. He would take a spoonful, blow it cool, tilt his head sideways back and forth with six increments, pausing at the third before ingesting the soup.
We once had a picnic/meeting at John’s house and one of our members gave a slide show on the Chicago FD dispatch center. Ed, being the expert in all things, repeatedly interrupted the presenter to interject some unnecessary factoid, some of which were actually accurate. One of the most infamous bits was “In 1967, The Chicago Fire Department…” whereupon half a dozen people shouted at him to “Shut Up Ed!”, they had had enough. From then on that became a catchphrase for some of us, we would say that for a chuckle often. Years later at another meeting we had our roundtable discussion and at Ed’s turn he stood up and started off saying “In 1967, the Chicago Fire Department…” and half of us started to laugh uncontrollably. He never got to finish what he was talking about either time; I still have no idea what the Chicago Fire Department did in 1967 that Ed wanted us all to know about. I don’t think Ed ever figured out why we were laughing so hard anyway.
Other antics:
Ed rode Metra trains into Chicago for work daily and had a habit of pacing up and down the platform at the local train station in a particular pattern. He would wear this long black trench coat everywhere, all year round, I don’t recall ever seeing him without it. As he lived down the street from my friend Will his kids knew Ed as well. Other Metra riders referred to Ed as “Weird Larry” as they did not know his real name (Ed was not a very sociable guy). When Will’s then pre-teen son talked to Ed on the platform some of the other rides swooped in to “Protect” him from “Weird Larry”, not knowing that he was known to him. As far as we knew there was nothing for the kid to worry about, Ed was never known to be THAT kind of weird.
Ed was a big proponent of passenger rail and often spoke on behalf of Metra, Amtrak and CTA projects and improvements. He was very knowledgeable about these subjects, as he was on many. He would eloquently speak on behalf of passenger rail to anyone who would listen.
Father Ed died in 2017 at 82. While we were entertained by his quirks, he was all-in-all a smart guy who did a lot to promote the scanning hobby in the Chicago area. While we chuckle at his antics he did do a lot for the scanner hobby in the Chicago area and for that he always had our respect.
