The Thomas Family, I was so saddened to hear that Franke has passed on. It has been an effort to try to put into words how I felt about him. I met him when he was my brothers RA at SOC ('73), not long after we had lost our own little brother. Franke stepped right into the role to fill the hole in our hearts. He became our new brother; a role he continued to play every time we met. He was a great friend with an infectious smile, and always gave great hugs whenever we saw each other, no matter how long we had been apart, like a brother. I met with him many times while he was teaching in the Gresham area. I'm sure his students wondered "who is this guy hugging our teacher?" But, it didn't matter, he was a brother... and, I'm gonna miss him.