I received an email from N2QT (Mark), a fellow contester, who was looking at a very old (January 1958 !!) CQ magazine issue and recognized a familiar call sign. Mark scanned the relevant pages from the magazine and sent it along to me to view. The article is about young women who are licensed amateurs. I think it is ok to quote the relevant content here:

K2DSL, Merceda Pilla, of Trenton N.J. is 16 years old and a senior at Cathedral High School. “Bunny,” as she is known over the air, got her Novice license in July ’53, a few weeks before her 12th birthday. With the help of her brother K2ART and encouragement from W2ZI, Bunny earner her General before the year was over. She in turn helped her dad get his ticket, K2JID. K2DSL uses a Harvey Wells transmitter and a BC-348Q receiver. She spends 99% of her time on cw, mostly on 80. She loves traffic handling and operating for CD. She holds two PSC for work during floods and other certificates include RCC, NJN, RACES and DVRA. An honor student and president of her student council, Bunny also enjoys horseback riding, ice skating, dancing, piano and teaching.

The article also includes a picture of Merceda. I did a quick search on QRZ and there’s only one Merceda listed and it looks like W6FCW in California is the same person and the date of births seem to coincide. There’s no email on QRZ so I will send out a letter via postal mail and include a copy of the article that N2QT so graciously spotted and passed along.

73,
K2DSL