We had one cruise ship speaking gig

Greece (4 ports)

While in Kotor, we met up with Ulli Fenner,
one of our oldest friends, who now lives in Montenegro

Two back-to-back cruises on the new Silversea Silver Ray - just 728 passengers. A total of 18 days in Croatia, Italy, Montenegro, and Greece.

Rick gave 10 presentations (five per cruise)

Croatia (5 ports)

Montenegro (Kotor)

Italy (3 ports)

Duane, Amy, Sean, Caroline, Pete, Jay, Eric, Wendy, Tim, Rick, Emily (italics indicate Francona blood)

Cousins Dinner

Andrea Bocelli concert

Lots of great food
No Francona gathering is complete without pizzelle
Pete kept the pizza oven busy

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Francona Family (photo ->)

All of the family members present are the great-granchildren of Pasquale and Vittoria.

Pete, Jay, and Tim are the grandchildren of their son Albert from three of Albert's children. They are first cousins.

Rick and Amy are the grandchildren of Albert's brother Carmon from Carmon's two sons. They are first cousins.

The three Albert grandchildren and the two Carmon grandchildren are second cousins.

Emily, Sean, Tim
Pete, Rick, Eric

Whales and deer in the "front yard"

The 'sound of freedom"
We live directly under Aerial Refueling Track 8A (southbound)

Thanksgiving
(Emily, Nanci Johnson, Ken Byrd, Rick, Nancy Dowdy)

A hot day in July

Favorite eateries in town

Autumn sunrise

The annual Windsock Launch Party - a tradition since 1998
(Emily, Nanci Johnson, Nancy Dowdy, MJ LaBelle, Cheryl Cherise)

Anza Borrego State Park

A former Royal Norwegian Air Force C-130 is converted to an aerial firefighting tanker at Jacqueline Cochran Regional Airport

Spacex Starlink 8-1 launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base

A classic car wash sign

Joshua Tree National Park

First and last full moons of 2024

Yes, they make an RV

View from the house

The Francona Girls

Alexa

Briggs and Cynthia Matsko

The Wine Deck - Emily, Rick, Nancy Dowdy, Cheryl Cherise, MJ LaBelle, Kate Waters, Gary Stone, Lilik Zakarian

Melissa, Bernard, and Ellie Froehlich

Rod and Pat Douglas

Tom and Sue Dunbar

Millie North

Pete and Shelly Smith - sadly, we lost Pete this year

Vera Gibbons

Clive and Linda Clark

Alf, Susie, and Chloe Knudsen

Hal and Francie Kibby, and Tim and Leanne Mobley

Lilik Zakarian and Nancy Dowdy

Ken Byrd and Nanci Johnson

Gabriel and Grete Toma

Jeanne Francona
January 15, 1934 – February 11, 2024

My mother died unexpectdly earlier this year. My niece Christin, a registered nurse, called and warned me that she was in danger.

I was surprised - I had just talked to her on the phone. She was in her car and trying to keep her decrepit vehicle on the road, much to the dismay of her four sons.

It was not even a week later that she passed. I talked to her just before - her faith carried her on.

She leaves us, her four sons, seven grandchildren, and 10 great-grandchildren. Here we are at her Celebration of Life in New Brighton, Pennsylvania.

As you can imagine, we are devastated, but know she was ready to go. We all four met in Florida and later in Pennsylvania where her ashes were buried next to the love of her life, our father David.

Major Dan Leach, US Air Force (Retired)
February 6, 1948 – September 14, 2024

Dan and I served together as NCOs, then in 1979 went to Officer Training School together, and then Intelligence Officer school together. We were members of the infamous "Not Ready for Prime Time Lieutenants" class - named for a few stunts that, let's just say, the command staff did not fully appreciate. Most of the class were prior-service intelligence operators with more experience than our instuctors, so irreverence was the order of the day....

Dan was always a class act - witty, charming, and devilish at the same time. I did learn some interesting vocabulary as we tried to fix my car.

By happenstance, we met again in Skagway, Alaska in 2022 (photo) while on separate cruises in the same port. It had been over 40 years since we had seen each other, but it seemed like yesterday.

RIP, brother.

Katerina "Treni" Imrich Spiegel
1943 – 2024

Treni was Emily's first cousin and closest relative while growing up.