here is an unusual place in Western Ohio near the Indiana line. It is an 8 mile man madereservoir called “Grand Lake St. Marys.” Fine boating, fishing and camping ever since I canremember plus one of my assignments for service was at the St. Marys State Highway Patrol Post.
As I usually do in the winter months, read old issues of QST from the teens and found a good subject“The Candler Family of St. Mary’s Ohio.”

TLittle did I know at the time of
my tenure in the 60s of a local
married couple in the town ofSt. Marys, “The Candlers.” Dr.
Charles and Emma Candler
shared a station, the joint call
8NH and were wirelesspioneers in that region. Becauseof their civic mindedness of theregion and activities withpioneer radio the couple became
known far and wide.
Charles became a “Ham” in1914 then his wife Emma in
January 1915, at a time whenequipment was usually homemade and primitive, yet they
were experienced and knew how to put out a good signal that was easily copied in the region andbeyond. Doc. Charles born in 1884 had earned his BA from Miami of Ohio U and presently
Principal of St. Marys High School. When he became interested in radio in 1914, they started witha one inch spark coil, crystal detector and loose coupler.
In 1915 the couple acquired 1KW and an audion and abused the ether with 133 cycle static andsigned 8NH on the key. (Per QST Who’s Who November 1920.) Charles was part of thetranscontinental DX testing in the early 20s experimenting with the likes of 9ZN at the Chicago
Radio Laboratory. (Of the Zenith dynasty)
Ms Emma Candler loved handling ARRL traffic and was part of the Presidential relay coast to coast
May of 1917. My friend Bob Baird W9NN who was (8BTI) in his letter of 21 Aug 1998 advised methat he and the Dayton boys would travel to see the 8NH station at St. Marys from their location thenin Dayton. We didn’t receive any QSLs from Emma but visited her a few times, as Bob recalled Dr.
Candler didn’t care for the extra excitement over Emma. Prior to 1920 QSL cards were a rarity.
Bob Baird said “The Candler station got out very well and it was thought they had lake effect fromGrand lake St. Marys to help boost the signal, Emma had a great fist and could send ARRL traffic
by the hour, she had a lot of guys at her door step who were fascinated with the great signal. She wascourteous showing them the station and antenna system which was 87 feet long, 58 feet high, six
wires, lead in from the center. The foot traffic to the house got hectic for Charles and he didn’t
appreciate the knocks on the door at all hours.”
David Middelton W5CA/W7ZC said of Emma “Myself as an avid ham since 1919 I have watchedwith great interest the advent and progress of YL’s into the Ham Game. My first cognizance of YL
Ham radio came in listening in awe to 8NH as the skillful fingers of Mrs. Candler in St. Marys Ohio,
beating out rhythmic code on Spark in her inimitable fashion as a veteran traffic handler.. Continued

Ham radio owes much to those women pioneers who blazed a trail.” Middelton said.
Some say Emma was the first YL ham operator in the USA. Which could be true but there is one
record that shows a California lady slightly ahead of her. Post war the Candlers were issued 8ER andthen Charles was involved in long distance communications to determine how far two way contacts
could attain. Record after record was broken and they both shared a very competitive station.
Your author has spent hundreds of hours out on Lake St. Marys, the pleasure of boating and fishing,through all kinds of weather, blue skies, sunny summer days. That truly was a beautiful place andhasn’t seen the likes of the Candlers since. It seems not a trace was found of the Candlers in the late
20s until 1934 when Emma was driving in a two car traffic accident in Lima Ohio region. Could theloss of old King Spark cause two casualties to the ranks? It was said then, CW did not measure up
to the old tone and quality of King Spark in the eyes of many early operators. But then in the school
system, should a position call of better importance, I am sure both of our subjects would move awayand serve gladly.
We found a Ohio interment location forCharles and Emma in Marietta Ohio.
Eastlawn Valley Cemetery. No dates
presently available but are aware CharlesCandler expired in 1944 at Washington
County Ohio. They were employed by theeducational system in Marietta from theearly 1930s into the 1940s.
The Candler name comes up on occasion
and it is my hope that this material might
help in the memory of those two great
pioneer ham operators.
As mentioned we found a news article
dated 30 November 1934 out of the Lima
News where Mrs Candler of 137 Wells,Marietta Ohio was involved in a two car
collision in Auglaize County where she
was en-route to a Chorus Feature event in Gomer-Vaughnsville school system. The vehicle wasdemolished but Mrs Candler only received scrapes and bruises.
Our second picture is of Emma at the radio installation circa 1920 at home in St. Marys Ohio.
Thanks to Bob Baird W9NN memories and pictures, David Middelton W7ZC, dokufunk.org ARRL
Nov 1920 and earlyradiohistory.us/1917
W8SU 2009 added 2011