Tom Christian

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

(1 November 1935 – 7 July 2013) was a citizen of Pitcairn Island, and was its long-serving

radio operator A radio operator (also, formerly, wireless operator in British and Commonwealth English) is a person who is responsible for the operations of a radio system. The profession of radio operator has become largely obsolete with the automation of ra ...

. During his lifetime, Christian was profiled in a number of publications, including '' National Geographic'' and ''

People A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of prope ...

'' magazines. Christian served as the

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

's appointee on the Pitcairn council for forty years. In 1983, Christian was appointed a member of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

. When Christian was 17, he left the island for

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and stayed for three years, where he was trained to operate the radio station ZBP, first set up by the New Zealand military during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. In 1989, according to ''People magazine'', Christian was the highest paid native islander, earning $10,000 a year. ''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...

'' reported that Christian had spent other relatively brief periods off-island, that he had always been attracted to life off-island, and never expected to stay on the island so long. Christian, like most Pitcairn Islanders, was a follower of

Seventh-day Adventism The Seventh-day Adventist Church is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sabbath, and i ...

, and worked for six months at a Seventh-day Adventist radio station in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. He also made several cruises as a radio operator on a freighter vessel. In later years, Christian visited the outside world where he delivered

lectures A lecture (from Latin ''lēctūra'' “reading” ) is an oral presentation intended to present information or teach people about a particular subject, for example by a university or college teacher. Lectures are used to convey critical inform ...

on Pitcairn and its history. Christian was described as one of the two most sought after amateur radio operators in the world. Christian, with call sign VP6TC/VR6TC, served as "the voice of Pitcairn" from the mid-1950s to his retirement in 2004. His radio hut was atop Spyglass Hill, which, at elevation, is the highest point on the island. According to his ''New York Times'' obituary, Christian and his wife Betty Christian took a firm stand during the

Pitcairn sexual assault trial of 2004 In the Pitcairn sexual assault trial of 2004 seven men living on Pitcairn Island faced 55 charges relating to sexual offences against children and young people. The accused represented a third of the island's male population and included Steve C ...

against the idea that

Polynesian people Polynesians form an ethnolinguistic group of closely related people who are native to Polynesia (islands in the Polynesian Triangle), an expansive region of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean. They trace their early prehistoric origins to Island South ...

had different standards about the sexual initiation of minors. Christian died of the after-effects of a stroke. He and Betty had four daughters, Darilene, Sherilene, Jacqueline, Raelene, and six grandchildren. According to the

American Radio Relay League The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) is the largest membership association of amateur radio enthusiasts in the United States. ARRL is a non-profit organization, and was co-founded on April 6, 1914, by Hiram Percy Maxim and Clarence D. Tuska o ...

, he had been diagnosed as suffering from Alzheimer's disease in 2009, and his health and awareness of his surroundings had steadily deteriorated since then. His daughters Jacqueline and Raelene are also amateur radio operators.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Christian, Tom 1935 births 2013 deaths Pitcairn Islands people Amateur radio people Members of the Order of the British Empire Pitcairn Islands people of Polynesian descent Pitcairn Islands people of English descent Pitcairn Islands people of Manx descent Pitcairn Islands people of Saint Kitts and Nevis descent Pitcairn Islands people of Cornish descent Pitcairn Islands people of Scottish descent Pitcairn Islands people of American descent Pitcairn Islands Seventh-day Adventists