Homer Denius Remembers

Jan. 31, 1914 - April 20, 2006

"When I was in the fifth grade in southern Ohio, I made my first radio set out of a cardboard oatmeal box and a crystal," he said in an interview for the 100-year anniversary of Harris in 1995. "Somebody gave me a set of headphones and some wire and I could get KDKA in Pittsburgh. Then another fellow came along and gave me a lot of radio parts — a three-tube set and a whole bunch of parts to make radios out of. That's what got me started, and I never got away from it."

Denius and George Shaw co-founded Radiation in Melbourne in 1950, when the space race was in its infancy. Radiation quickly became a leader in the design and manufacture of telemetry equipment for rockets.

"The fact that we were able to get into the digital space technology business before anyone else, and did a very good job in that respect, was largely responsible for the growth of Radiation. We didn't have much competition and our group had more knowledge from the start in digital telemetry than any other group in the country. I don't think we ever lost a contract in that particular area."

"We had a sales manager who was afraid of bears. One day, George Shaw and I were in a car headed for the plant and we came across a hitchhiker along the road. He had been with a carnival and had a trained bear with him. George told the man to get in, and bring the bear. When we got to the plant, the sales manager was out to lunch and George got the idea to hire the man and the bear for an hour or so. When the sales manager came back and opened his office door he found a bear sitting at his desk. There was quite a bit of commotion for a while."

"One big lesson I learned when I was quite young, and I've always followed it. Never make a promise you can't keep. And it's really paid off. It doesn't matter, as far as I'm concerned, whether it's business, or friendship, or something else. You should never, never make a promise if you can't keep it. That's the way I feel about things."