Warren Russel Stearns

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It is with a deep sense of loss that we report that Warren Stearns, the PDP wizard who came from Rapid City, South Dakota to help us restore our PDP-12, died on Sunday, August 6th 2017 following a massive heart attack. We waited to write this post until his obituary was posted; visitation is tonight and the funeral is tomorrow, Thursday, August 17th, in Hartford, SD (details at the above link).

Warren was well known in the PDP-8 community and spent a considerable amount of time traveling to various vintage computing gatherings and helping others restore their vintage machines. We first got in touch with Warren through the Rhode Island Computer Museum's (RICM) Michael Thompson, who had (with others) worked alongside Warren to restore their own PDP-12 starting in 2015. Michael told me that Warren might be interested in coming to help us. Warren called me a day or two later and said that he could be there in two days.

Warren was so generous to us with his time -- he spent essentially a month here in Duluth working with Dawson on the PDP-12. He was also generous with his resources. He paid his own way while here (this project is basically unfunded) and took Dawson out to eat more than once. Warren was also the "anonymous donor" who purchased the ASR-33 for us at the estate sale here in Duluth shortly before he left. (The seller threw in the parts machine and rolls of paper tape to support our project.) Warren joked that he didn't want to be named because he wasn't going to be buying hardware for everyone he helped out.

Warren's help even extended beyond the grave, in a way. The teletype he purchased was missing the faceplate (the gray piece that says "teletype") and the rubber hammer was decomposed (turning on old teletypes can irreparably damage the print wheel because the decomposed rubber exposes the metal hammer underneath, which mashes the type on the print wheel). Warren had ordered replacement parts before he died along with some noise dampening foam for the PDP-12's panels; he was planning to give them to us after VCFMW12 when he was going to stop back in Duluth for another work session. Those parts arrived the day after Warren's heart attack; his friends are getting them to us on his behalf.

All this to say -- we would not be where we are without Warren's help (and the help of his friends). We plan to commemorate his involvement in this project in a special way -- more on that later. But we miss him and our thoughts go out to his family and loved ones. We will think of him every time we power up the machine or watch these old videos, and we will do our best to carry on his spirit of sharing, helpfulness and generosity. He was such a fun and generous person with so many stories to tell. Peace be to his memory!

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