Charles Ozias Files

Mr. Files died Monday, April 29, 2002, at Lawrence Memorial Hospital.

He was born Jan. 24, 1914, in Warrensburg, Mo., the son of Thurman Eugene and Ollie Sophrona (Ozias) Files. His family moved to Kansas City, Mo., in the early 1920s, and then to Overland Park, Kan., in 1927. He graduated from Shawnee Mission Rural High School in 1931. He attended Kansas State University through his junior year. He lived in Overland Park, Kan., until 1971, when he retired to his weekend home on Lake Pomme Terre in the Cedar Crest Cove community near Hermitage. He had spent winters with his daughter Carole in Arkansas City, Kan., and Lawrence, Kan., since 1995.

Mr. Files retired in 1971 as a electronics engineer at Bendix Corporation. He was a lifelong amateur radio operator, obtaining his first license at age 13. In the 1990s, he was the first American to receive Germany’s highest amateur radio award, the DLD1000, making more than 1,000 of his radio contacts from the United States.

He largely worked on classified projects. Immediately following college, he worked for Kansas City Power & Light Company. During World War II, he served in the U.S. Naval Reserve and contributed as a civilian to the war effort by training radiomen for the Navy’s ships. After that assignment, he moved to the Boston area to work for Raytheon. He returned with his family to Overland Park, Kan., in 1945. He then worked in the airplane division at General Motors until it closed. His final employment was with the Bendix Corporation where he worked on projects for NASA in the early days of the space program.

He married Ladine Elizabeth Solberg on Aug. 20, 1937, in Overland Park, Kan. She died earlier.

Other survivors include two daughters, Carole Elizabeth Dibben, Lawrence, Kan., and Gail Teresa Duke, Kearns, Utah; seven grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren.

A granddaughter died earlier.

The family suggests memorials to Hickory County Library, Hermitage, MO 65668.

Warren-McElwain Mortuary is in charge of local arrangements.