All at KPTZ are saddened at the loss of the inimitable and fun-loving John Clise, who passed away on May 27. We and our listeners are very fortunate that John fed the KPTZ airwaves regularly to share the Community Calendars and his fine persona, for over 10 years. On May 15, the very day before he himself, turned 91, John joined the Monday morning crew during KPTZ’s 12th Birthday Fund Drive in making his final 91.9FM appearance, as shown in this photo with Donn Trethewey at the console and Phil Andrus also in the studio.
“I shall miss him,” says KPTZ’s Taylor Clark, who since 2013 was John’s production partner for the voiceover work Mr. Clise contributed. “John did voice, I did the engineering. It was a lot of reading but John always came prepared: having looked up pronunciations and marked out his cadence. After he left for the day I would do the edit and remove any flubs. There weren’t a lot of mistakes, but the outtakes often made me laugh. ‘Oh Balls!’” As we send love and comfort to Pam Clise and to all their family and friends, may John’s significant contributions to KPTZ, Port Townsend and our planet serve as inspiration to us all. To hear more of John’s story, and his voice, and to experience some of his humor, check out Maryanne McNellis’ interview with him from one year ago, in the Our Town archives: Episode #201: John Clise, Renaissance Man
