June C. Klimpert, outside her Placitas home
June C. Klimpert • 1927—2008
June Klimpert, beloved wife of Signpost cartoonist Rudi
Klimpert, passed away on January 8 after an extended illness. She
and Rudi had been married for forty-seven years. She is also survived
by their children, Karen and Randy Klimpert, three grandchildren,
and her loyal dog Cookie. She was a loving mother and wife who enjoyed
her career and loved to travel. Services were held on January 10.
The family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations be made in
June Klimpert’s name to Presbyterian Kaseman Hospice, 8300
Constitution NE, Albuquerque, NM 87110.
Al Garblik • 1915-2008
—JO ANNE FREDRIKSON
Abner (Al) Garblik, 92, who was featured in the September
2007 issue of the Signpost, lost his battle with leukemia on
January 11 at his home in Placitas. His wife Elizabeth preceded
him in death. He is survived locally by his daughter Judy of Placitas,
a son in California, a sister Marcelle in Florida, two granddaughters,
five great-grandchildren, two nephews, and numerous grand- and great-grand
nieces and nephews.
Al Garblik was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1915, where he attended
school and graduated with both B.S. and M.S. degrees in Electrical
Engineering from then Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute. He received
his ham radio license at age thirteen and worked with AT&T as
a high-speed ham radio operator handling overseas traffic. He was
on the airwaves in 1936 when he overheard that Warsaw was being
bombed, signaling the start of World War II, and when the Japanese
bombed Pearl Harbor. He was a pioneer in the application of high-speed
Morse code technology for Navy projects. He began working at Sandia
Corporation in 1949 on the engineering aspects of Pershing missiles
and nuclear weapons. He worked directly with a team of famed scientists
at Los Alamos that had been involved with the Manhattan Project
on a nuclear project for the Air Force, including Edward Teller,
the father of the hydrogen bomb; two Nobel Prize winning physicists;
and a group of experts in thermodynamics. He continued to work on
the U.S. missile program until his retirement in 1977.
Al maintained a communication network with ham radio operators
from around the world, and loved his friends in Placitas and New
Mexico. He was passionate about technical advances and their impact
on society. He loved to interact with and challenge people to think.
His worldwide travels resulted in an appreciation for how events
are reshaping cultures around the world. His family referred to
him as a ‘gadgeteer,” remembering him flying a new remote-controlled
helicopter around the living room with his grandkids this past December.
A celebratory ceremony will be held in the spring for friends
and family. Mr. Garblik’s remains have been cremated. The
family requests that in lieu of flowers, contributions be made in
his honor to the Placitas Community Library Building Fund, PO Box
445, Placitas, NM 86043, for a Science & Technology section.
Matching funds will be contributed by Merck Pharmaceuticals, where
his daughter worked before her retirement.
Helping with end-of-life decisions
Compassion and Choices invites the public to its next general
membership meeting on Saturday, February 9. The speaker will be
Roland Halpern, Director of Community Relations for Compassion and
Choices, who will talk about developments and programs in end-of-life
choices, both around the country and in New Mexico. He will also
explain the client services program of the organization. A report
of good news from activities in the local chapter will follow. This
free meeting is open to the general public and will be held at the
Peace and Justice Center, 202 Harvard Drive SE in Albuquerque (on
the southeast corner of Harvard and Silver). Parking is available
on the street or in the lot adjacent to the building. Doors open
at 9:30 a.m. and the program will be from 10:00 a.m. until noon.
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