John Freeman

8 years have passed quickly! After we worked together for CDC in Sunnyvale, John & I got together sporadically, at Spec Benchmark meetings or in Albuquerque. I recall house sitting 2 days for John when he went on a vacation trip to France after I had visited him at his home.

8 years ago something had impelled me to visit friends in Albuquerque: Lee Skinner, Steve Simond's, Arlen Petty, & I had planned on visiting John driving to Las Cruces. While I was in Albuquerque I learned that John had just passed. That was a sad day. We still miss you, John... your spirit lives on ...

I'm very sad to hear that John passed away. John was remarkably kind & gentle in manner, a great humanitarian, and remarkably talented in several ways.

We met & worked together for CDC in Sunnyvale, California, 1973-1975, and John was clearly the brightest person in our Gemini software development group. He maintained a calm demeanor, no matter what level of chaos prevailed. Privately, he had likes & dislikes, but they *never* interfered with his work. CDC quickly realized what a talented person he was, and he enjoyed many special projects during his long tenure at CDC. He left Sunnyvale for Albuquerque after 1975 when the ALS project ended.

I visited John several times afterwards, once with my 10-year daughter, usually staying for the night. Kris thought of John as her kind uncle.

I traveled often to Albuquerque until my retirement from the computer business in 2003, sometimes saw John there, and we were both members of the SPEC (benchmarking) committee, he for CDC, me for SGI in the early/mid '90s, so we had the opportunity to stay current with each other. I knew when he moved to Chama for a time, then to Las Cruces.

Only 2 weeks ago, May 12 to May 17, I visited Albuquerque & old CDC friends, Arlen Petty, Steve Simonds, & Lee Skinner, who introduced me to Lou Abeyta. I had planned on calling John, as I had about 2 months ago, to talk by phone, but wasn't able to reach him.

As Fate would have it, I was thinking of John while I was in Albuquerque that weekend & Lee, Arlen, Steve & I wondered how he was - John passed on that Saturday, 5/14/11.

John was a fine person. His world was a better place while he was here. He'll be missed.

John was always an icon for our family. My Father, Louis Abeyta and my mother LaMorah always welcomed John to our house for family dinners where a collective group of friends, typically tied to computer science in some way, would cover a wide range of intellectual topics in a manner only one could compare to laymen ready for beer, food and football on Sunday. John had a gentle manner with a strength of character rarely found. I was only a young man - not even a teenager - when I spent time around John, however, he made an impression on me. He valued my interest in sports and other pop culture hero's but he noted that being really smart would be equally "cool" and last a lifetime. In my view, John lived a lifetime of being "cool" while making our world a better place. We lost a special person who's quiet impact is immeasurable. -Ed Abeyta

I am so sorry to hear about John death, i used to work with him at STGT,WSC,TDRSS. He was a good man