Memories of Frank Dubeau
May 2020 :
I was shocked to learn about Frank Dubeau’s passing last week. Frank was a long time Skyscraper. I think he joined about the same time Kathy and I did in the early 1970s. Frank was a very quiet person but he was quite active during the 70s and 80s. His being reserved may have gone hand and hand with his chosen profession, as he was a machinist. Many machinists I knew during my career were also quiet and kept more to themselves and their lathe. Frank was a great one, too. He built a Newtonian 10 inch with a German equatorial mount in 1974 and displayed it during the Skyscraper Mall Planetarium Project in 1975. Back then a 10 inch telescope was a BIG deal.
Most of you may have seen the picture hanging in the meeting hall on the wall behind the propane stove. It is the Skyscraper crew that went to observe the Manitoba total solar eclipse. Frank is there along with Steve Hubbard, Dave Huestis, Brian Magaw and a ProJo reporter named Murry. They had clear skies but I think it was quite cold!
My best memory of Frank is shown in the accompanying picture. This was during the 1976 repairs to the Clark and the dome. The observatory dome refused to rotate and a large group of members worked all summer, Saturdays and Sundays, to get us back running in time for Astroassembly that year. This picture shows Frank working on reattaching the bull gear to the dome, not an easy task because of the weight of the castings and the required alignment accuracy. Frank’s machinist skills were a great asset with this important project.
We will all miss him and also, by the way, his wry sense of humor.
