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Truman O’Brien

Shows:  Brown Briefly, Morning Scramble

Truman is a recent member of the VoV Board. His interest in radio began at age thirteen when he earned his Novice Amateur Radio license (KN7LUG). Building a transmitter, he began communicating around the world in Morse Code. At fifteen his interest in girls overtook his interest in radio so he traded his Hallicrafters receiver and home-built transmitter for a Honda motor-scooter. Interest in aviation arose at about this same time; soloing at age sixteen he never imagined a career in aviation. Radio again appeared when the Key Club (junior Kiwanis), of which he was a member, took over the local AM radio station for their annual fund-raiser in Miles City, Montana. The quirky little station (KATL – pronounced “Cattle” radio!) even had a show at noon every day called the “Dinner Bell Roundup” where they introduced the show by clanging on a cowbell.

After a three-year stint in the Army (Vietnam and Germany) he graduated from the University of Montana and moved to the Pacific Northwest. He first lived on Vashon when he became Superintendent of Camp Sealth. He and his wife Mary lived at the camp from 1975-1978 until his love for aviation finally overwhelmed him and he began flight instructing in Seattle. Through a circuitous route – including hauling fish in Alaska from an open ocean beach in a DC-4 aircraft – he worked for twenty-three years as a commercial airline pilot, retiring after the last twelve as a Boeing 737 Captain.

Moving back to Vashon in 1991 he was sucked into island politics, serving eight years as a Park Commissioner for the Vashon Park District. Retiring from this board he was soon drafted to the Board of Vashon Community Care where he served as President for six years. At that time, he saw a need for more stable funding so he founded the VCC Foundation, serving as its president for three years. He earned his General Amateur radio license (KG7CFG) and volunteers in emergency communications for the Vashon Emergency Operations Center on the island.

Joining KVSH he hosted the very first regularly-scheduled live broadcast with the Tuesday Morning Scramble where he still co-hosts with his daughter, Molly.

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