USAFA Class Heritage

Fred’s memorial service was in the middle of a Colorado hot spell, so it was a partly cloudy, hot day at the USAFA Cemetery, even in late morning. The grass at the cemetery was extremely lush and deep. In some photos, you may hardly see some people’s shoes.
The flag was presented to Hank Hoffman to present to Georgia, per Georgia’s request. Also, the “urn” containing Fred’s ashes and a few other things was a sea bag, made specially for Fred’s service by a favorite company involved with Fred’s lifetime love of sailing. I was wondering why the Honor Guard was carrying this white canvas bag as I was taking pictures. Georgia said Fred almost always had a bag packed in case he was called on to have to travel on short notice.
Between Georgia’s eulogy and their son Gage’s comments at the reception afterward, we heard many stories about Fred’s successes, accomplishments, and interests. Among the stories I found most interesting was kind of a circle-of-life thing. Back in the olden days, Fred and Georgia met on a blind, double-date. Georgia was Hank Hoffman’s date, and her friend was Fred’s. They’d gone to a ski resort, and it turned out that Georgia and Fred were skiers, and Hank and Georgia’s friend were not. So Georgia and Fred skied together while Hank and her friend got acquainted. As they say, the rest is history. And here many years later, Hank was the person to present Fred’s flag to Georgia.