Tascho Saems, 91, a ham radio operator from Des Plaines, died Tuesday, Jan. 14, in Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge. Mr. Saems was born in Macedonia, but his family moved to the United States when he was a baby. Mr. Saems was a sergeant in the Army in World War II. Stationed in Europe, he developed an affinity for Morse code and became a radio operator. “When we were kids, he went into ham radio as a hobby,” his daughter Christine Kroschel said. “He was qualified to speak, but always used the Morse code. He would sit around doing it for hours and had tons of equipment in the basement and would go to ham radio festivals all the time.” Mr. Saems worked as a laborer for the Elgin Joliet & Eastern Railway in his teens and later, working there a total of 25 years. He also worked as a comptroller at the Mather Home in Evanston for 20 years. Other survivors include his wife, Florence; another daughter, Rosemary Strickland; a brother, George; two sisters, Ann Couch and Katherine McClain; five grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. Services will begin at 9:15 a.m. Friday in G.L. Hills Funeral Home, 745 Graceland Ave., Des Plaines, followed by a mass at 10 a.m. in St. Mary Church, 794 Pearson St., Des Plaines.
