Welcome to the personal page of Windridge Productions!
My name is Art Pahr and my wife is Barb. We are retired public school educators in Wisconsin. When I was in the classroom I was the Director of Bands at Riverview Middle School in the Plymouth Joint School District. Barb taught grades K-5 general music in the Sheboygan Falls School District for 25 years.
Art was born and raised in Shawano, Wisconsin, which is located northwest of Green Bay. He served four years in the United States Air Force before entering college. Barb was born in Saskatchewan and lived there until she was 8 years old. She then moved to South Dakota with her family and remained there for six years until they moved to Wisconsin.
We have a variety of mutual and individual interests. The various links you will find throughout the text and at the bottom of this page will give you a more in-depth look at what we enjoy in our spare time.
Barb is a member of the Kiel Municipal Band. She became a member in 1958 when she was still in high school in Kiel. She plays the clarinet and completed a half-century with the KMB in 2008. Art was invited to join the KMB during his junior year of college in 1963. He played the tuba and also served as the band’s Business Manager until the end of 2006 when he decided to retire. Both of us are graduates of Lakeland College, Art in 1964 and Barb in 1965. Art also holds an MMEd degree from VanderCook College of Music in Chicago (1970) and has done additional work toward a Ph.D.
Art began his teaching career in Plymouth and stayed there for his entire 31-year career. Barb started her career in the Elkhart Lake School District, left the profession for 6 1/2 years to stay home with our children, and returned to the classroom in 1975.
We have a son and a daughter.
Cameron is an electronics engineering technician and lives in north-central Wisconsin. Rebecca lives in California and is a Production Supervisor at a major motion picture studio. Cameron is single; Rebecca is married. Her husband, Jon, is the CFO/COO at a high tech firm. Rebecca and Jon are the parents of two daughters. Our family pet was a coal-black cat named Snuggles. We miss her amusing antics and companionship that we enjoyed for almost 20 years while she allowed us to live in "her house."
Barb collects salt and pepper shakers; Art collects Hard Rock Cafe cordial glasses and logo pins. Both of us golf (but not very well). Art says he gets his money’s worth! Despite this shortcoming we succeed in having a "Pahr" on every hole! (Real corny joke!)
Art enjoys amateur radio as a hobby and has contacted ham operators in every part of the world. Among the many operating achievements he has earned is the ARRL DXCC Honor Roll #1 plaque. His most memorable contact was in 1977 when he exchanged signal reports with the late King Hussein (JY1) of Jordan. He was interested in the hobby when he was in grade school but didn’t get a license until 1967. He now holds the Extra Class license and his callsign is K9XJ. As
a service to DXers, a link to the International Mail Manual is shown further down the page. Those of you who have pen pals in other
countries may find this information useful also.
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Barb is the organist at our church and also enjoys playing the piano and organ as a pastime. For almost 17 years Art sat on boards of directors and various committees in the health care field and another board that was related to building stronger families. These community service interests kept him busy attending many meetings.
However, the By-Laws of these organizations imposed term limits on the number of years a member was allowed to serve. Having "used up" his allowable number of terms Art says he can now enjoy some retirement to go with his retirement!
We enjoy traveling and this has taken us to all 50 states, Germany, France, Denmark, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, Aruba, Sint Maarten/Saint Martin, Dominica, Nevis, Tortola BVI, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Canada. In Nov/Dec of 2006 we took a 19-day cruise trip to the fjords of Chile and Antarctica, and briefly visited Argentina on our return home. Then, in January, 2007, we began a 2-month odyssey that took us to Fiji, Australia, New Zealand, and Tahiti. Now that we have visited five continents we are planning on visiting Africa and Asia to complete a "tour" of all seven continents.
In addition to all of the above we also enjoy listening to public radio and have a casual interest in genealogy.
Other amateur radio links:
Other education links:
$$$$ to DX
The INTERNATIONAL MAIL MANUAL [IMM], Issue 34, is now available online and lists prohibitions
of what cannot be mailed to a country. After accessing the IMM, click on the numbered link next to the country name to display postal regulations for that country. My interpretation of the prohibitions is: If currency or paper money is NOT
specifically mentioned, then it is probably OK to send it.
One more note......
Sending any foreign currency to certain countries can result in the
RECIPIENT being JAILED for importing contraband. Their laws generally read, "Guilty until you can prove
you're innocent." Don't make
a problem for a fellow ham or pen pal.
73,
Art K9XJ
Because of the widespread practice of "mining" Websites for e-mail addresses,
the e-mail link that was on this page has been removed. Hopefully this will
reduce or eliminate the numerous spam messages that have been filling our in box.
If you do have questions you can e-mail me using my callsign at arrl.net.
You are visitor number 
since November 29, 1999.
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