The Passing of Uncle Frank

I received word that my Uncle Frank Gonzalez passed away Saturday morning. His wife, Aunt Jo passed away only 6 months ago. His 6 children live out of state. After Aunt Jo died, their children had the difficult task of relocating him to an assisted living facility in town. It was not safe for him to live alone. I would visit occasionally, but my cousins (the Porter family) faithfully visited him twice a week. My Porter cousins are 'salt of the earth' people. They have always been an example of Christ-like service. Their widowed father, Uncle Lester, is in his 90s and remains healthy both physically and mentally. Uncle Lester lives next door to my cousin Minnie Jane and her husband John Leyland in Murray,Utah.

The first Monday of the month for the past year, all the cousins around the valley get together at Marva (my cousin) and Gene's (her husband)'s home in Orem for a 'couzins get-together" potluck. It has been so fun so laugh, visit and reconnect with loved ones each month. Conversations revolve around what we remember as kids; what we remember about Grandma and Granpa Gonzalez and our associations with our aunts, uncles,and cousins; we philosophi about familiar idiosyncracies; relate stories we remember of our progenitors and life in the Mormon colonies where our roots began; we exchange great recipes; share great finds at the local stores; and just bask in family love and concern for each other. Either Minnie Jane and I would occasionally pick up Uncle Frank to attend the get together. He enjoyed being with the family for a short visit of compansionship and conversation. I always learned something when I talked to my uncle. He was very learned in the written doctrine of the LDS church. Aunt Jo was equally learned. When we talked, she always asked about my kids and was genuinely interested. When I moved to SLC in 1994, she graciously let Adam stay in their basement until I was able to move into an apartment. He and Aunt Jo raised 6 wonderful kids. Each, have grown into productive, self-sufficient adults; each developing skills and talents and making contributions to society, to their families and communities.

Tonight while Roger was watching the news, KSL TV station had a atory about Dugway Proving Ground (in Utah) opening a new drone facility. In the story, my cousin, Greg Gonzales was interviewed. He has had a career in the Army achieving the rank of Colonel and now is Project Manager for the Unmanned Aircraft Systems. Here is the video that ran in tonight's news. (copy and paste the following site)

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=8026120

HERE IS A PREVIOUS ARTICLE

Drones on a new mission at Dugway
September 1st, 2009 @ 6:07am
DUGWAY, Utah (AP) -- The U.S. Army says it will consolidate testing on unmanned drones at the Dugway Proving Grounds in Utah's west desert.

Military brass are planning a dedication ceremony for a new center Wednesday.

Dugway's primary mission is defending troops against biological and chemical attacks. It has perfected devices such as battlefield sensors and charcoal-lined soldier suits.

Now add drones.

The base will test new technologies and larger payloads for unmanned aircraft systems, and ways to get the drones faster to troops around the world.

About 1,400 civilians and contractors work at Dugway.