These thoughts about my friend Gene is sponsored by…sorry…underwritten by Cashton Boy Beer. You can take the boy out of Cashton, but you can’t take his beer.
I met my friend Gene nearly 40 years ago in 1983 in LaCrosse. It was my first of many moves to a radio station to do nights on WLXR FM…Hit 105. Gene was on the other side of the glass, drastically miscast as a Country DJ…and thankfully doing some news as well. He was the very first to really make me feel part of LaCrosse, inviting me for a beer and some rousing turns at Pole Position at Howie’s Hof Brau
(While we spent many a late night charging out of the station at midnight to take advantage of what was left of bar time, my most vivid memory is of us rounding the corner on to Third St for the very first. “Welcome to Nirvana.” Was his comment. We were young.)
While working and playing with Gene, I quickly found out what an incredibly smart, witty conversationalist and writer he was. How he took his work doing news seriously…even championing the then dying art of attending local school board and city council meetings…reporters’ notebook in hand. He was selfless, compassionate, respectful, and always, always hilarious.
When I left LaCrosse and moved to the next stop, and the next, and the next in the my radio migration, Gene always made a trip, by motorcycle, to see me. Everywhere from Omaha, to Des Moines, to Minneapolis...and oh…Rapid City. Only a real friend visits you in Rapid City. When he met Ruth, she joined him for those trip…thank goodness she missed Rapid City.
The love that Gene and Ruth shared was a joy to see. I can’t think of two people more comfortable and happy with each other. They loved each other…and this is a word Ruth used recently…fiercely. And in my word wonderfully. When I met my wife Lori we all became fast friends. How do I know…they both traveled to join us in our very first bonspiel in Minnesota. The Cashton Curlers didn’t fare well that weekend, but it was a true joy to spend time doing something that was one of Gene’s first loves and our new love.
For nearly 40 years I’ve watched, from a distance as Gene focused his seemingly endless energy on Public Broadcasting. I couldn’t be more proud of how my friend’s talents were recognized by more and more leaders in the public radio sector. Gene Purcell made public radio better, not only in Wisconsin, but across the country. I still am in awe of him as he lobbied for funding and sharing how vital public media is to our society. Convincing lawmakers who clearly didn’t agree, or frankly understand, to keep funds flowing. Truly an amazing man.
I’ve always been Pop, Rock and Blues. Gene, Alternative, Indie and Jazz, and though our broadcast paths took us in different directions and farther apart so that we saw each other in person once or twice a year, Gene was always my mentor, always my counselor, always my friend.
He was a Northstar. Though the Northstar is always there. You may not see it, or look for it, but when you need its guidance…you can look to it for direction. Gene was always there for me.
Now as we all try to figure out how to navigate the Gene-sized hole in our lives…a big ol’ hole I now find for me, I encourage you to be glad in the time that we had with him, thankful for the things he taught us...passion, kindness, knowledge, humble confidence, integrity, commitment, thoughtfulness, friendship, love. Pass it along. Broadcast it. He would have wanted you to. I miss you Gener.