US Hawks Hang Gliding Association • View topic - Otto Site cemetery history marker in place

by **Frank Colver** » Tue Aug 23, 2011 9:24 am

After several months, the Pacific View Memorial Park has finally engraved my HG history marker granite bench. It has the text on top and a generic hang glider on front and back of the support granite slab. I also have the Colver name along the front because my wife and I have our plots just beyond the bench They don't allow the two plots that are under the bench to be used, so no one needs to feel creepy while siting on the bench :-)

I have asked the cemetery to remove the white paint filler from the word "Colver" so it doesn't stand out with so much contrast. I didn't want it so noticeable that someone who knows us, and is driving through, to think that my wife or I had died. Right now it's pretty hard to miss when driving by on the road.

The generic HG graphic came from the catalog of a bronze casting company. When it was first sent to me, for approval, it was shown like it was in a "death dive". I replied that the graphic was OK but it has to be turned so that it is either in level flight or climbing, which ever fit best on the pedestal. They chose climbing - I like it.

After I took some photos, and located the point on my GPS and Google Earth, I sat down on the bench and my thoughts went back to that day in '71. I remember that I was all over the hillside that day, looking at the gliders and visiting with the builders and fliers - formulating ideas for my own design. Most of the people out there were meeting for the first time, and the enthusiasm of people meeting with similar flying interests was boiling over.

It's hard to imagine that day now, with the remaining cemetery covered with grass and trees and the property that the cemetery later sold, now covered with houses and streets.

Frank C.