Wednesday, April 9, 2008

The Gift - La Mia Famiglia - Part 2


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If you're here for Wordless Wednesday, scroll down below this post.
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A few more words on cousin Gil before I move on. When I had gone to his funeral in 2006 I had not seen him since my father's funeral in 1989. I did however, always have fond memories of Gil. In a word, he had charisma. When he spoke, people listened. People wanted to listen. He was a very accomplished man. He served in the army during WWII under Captain Ronald Reagan and later served in the air force doing a tour in Korea during that war. Following the war he earned two master's degrees and a law degree. In the years I knew him, he was a writer, producer, actor, and artist.

My aunt's words from the album state, "Gil's most inspiring and outstanding clay sculpting was the "Face of Christ". In this presentation, he narrated the Passion of Christ and at the same time sculpting a large mound of wet clay into the normal features of His face to its brutal disfigurement of the crucifixion. Gil toured many U.S. cities and appeared on TV during the Easter season for a number of years."

I found footage online of Gil's performance. It's about 15 minutes but in my biased opinion, well worth watching. I had the privilege of seeing Gil do the Face of Christ at my old church back in the early 80's. It sure brings back memories to watch him again.




Of all the people I saw at his service, the one I wanted to speak with most was laying in the casket. He was a good man.

More on the family and more pictures to come.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes, bro, I felt the same way about Gil, and your thoughts on him in the casket. He really had in impact on me, too...

~Ellen

Melissa said...

ooh I couldn't get the video to work for me...is something wrong with it?? Or am I just having another dumb moment :D