What follows my sig is a posting yesterday (10/14/06) on my "BPCR.net"
Forum.

Rick
Colorado
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Col. Jeff Cooper's funeral, as described by Dean Caputo. I received this
in an email from a friend who received it from Dean.


"Greetings from Gunsite, where the weather is beautiful and cooling off
nicely as we head towards Fall.

We are extremely busy this week as we are running four classes and will
be putting on the GAS match this weekend. Following GAS we have an
automatic weapons class on Sunday and Monday and start several more
classes on Monday as well.

I wanted to take some time and report to you on Jeff's funeral, which
took place this Monday. As the family had wanted it to be a private
affair I didn't put the word out in advance, for fear we would be
overwhelmed with people wanting to be here. There was a service in the
classroom followed by a graveside service at Jeff's mausoleum, which you
may recall, was built in 1994 by Larry Larsen. A Marine honor guard
carried the casket and the mausoleum was adorned with a U.S. and a
Marine Corps flag. After a few words the Marines fired three volleys and
then about 90 students and instructors on four different ranges let
loose, on cue, and answered with a huge volume of gunfire. The bugler
then blew taps and after that, the piper, who had started things off
with Amazing Grace, played the Marine Corps Hymn. He then did an about
face and slowly marched away playing the hymn over and over.

The Marine Captain who headed the detail said the barrage of gunfire
made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end and Janelle, and
almost everyone present, burst into tears. Jeff was sent out to the
joyful sound of gunfire and everyone appreciated it. For the students
and staff who were here and participated it was a chance to take part in
something they will always remember.

After the graveside service everyone went back to the classroom for a
reception featuring brownies, iced tea and lemonade, all cooked up by
the Gunsite girls. As things were winding down, at about 5:15PM, a twin
engine turbo prop private plane came diving in and just barely cleared
the roof of the classroom in a banking turn. The pilot then put on the
lowest level air show I have witnessed, complete with climbing up after
the dives and doing rolls. On the final pass, as he buzzed us again, he
couldn't have been more than 20 feet above the parking lot. He pulled up
into a steep dive, did a complete loop and a couple of rolls and flew
away. I was unaware that twin engine private planes like this could do
that sort of thing and I'm sure they aren't rated for aerobatics, but we
witnessed it.

So that was how it went here at Gunsite as we buried Jeff Cooper. I
thought you might want to know."