Jon Francis Foundation

I received an e-mail from CAPT Francis and noticed at the bottom of the e-mail in the signature area a link to a website called the Jon Francis Foundation.  I clicked on the link to visit the site and discovered the site deals with missing youths.  I navigated around the various WebPages and soon discovered the reason the site was created.  CAPT Francis's son Jon came up missing on July 15, 2006. 

 The paragraphs below were taken form the website with CAPT David Francis's permission:

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On Saturday morning, July 15, 2006, 24-year old Jon Francis, of Stillwater, Minnesota, climbed Grand Mogul in the rugged Sawtooth Mountains in Idaho.  He reached the summit but did not return. The official search, led by local law enforcement authorities, lasted for only 29 hours and was unsuccessful in finding him.

One of the searchers brought down a note that Jon had left in the summit registry. It read: "07/15/06. Jon Francis, *LHBC (Luther Heights Bible Camp) and Ogden Utah. Climbed avalanche field to east face and east ridge. Great times bouldering! All Glory to God for the climb and the beautiful Sawtooths."

A 12 month, family-funded search, employing hundreds of volunteers and professional search and rescue resources achieved the recovery of Jon's remains on July 24, 2007.  Jon was laid to rest at home in Minnesota, on October 9, 2007.

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What CAPT Francis is doing today with the website deserves our attention.  He is to be commended for his work in putting together this website and the work he is doing to make the loss of a loved one for others a little easier to bare.

Most of us do not have any idea of what he and others who have lost love ones have gone through.

Please take the time to visit his site and if you can afford to help support the cause, I am sure it would be very much appreciated. 

Here is the website:  www,jonfrancis.org

Jon Francis Foundation Update!

I received this 2008 update from Capt David Francis and felt I should share it with all our Shipmates.  You need an Adobe Acrubat reader to view the files.  If you do not have a current reader installed on your computer you can download a free reader from:  http://www.adobe.com/ .