Franklin Takashi Ohgi

Frank’s early years were difficult for his family. In 1938, Kensuke, Sakae, Sakae’s mother, Yasuno, George and Frank, traveled to Japan because his father was very ill. He passed away before they reached Japan. They went through the war years in Japan, finally returning to the US in 1948, thanks to Sakae’s brother Kay, who funded their return to the US.

They lived in various places in LA and Frank graduated from Belmont High School in 1956. He followed his brother in Engineering at UCLA graduating in 1960. Immediately upon graduation, Frank went to work for Douglas Aircraft and finished his masters degree at UCLA.

He spent his entire career at what became McDonald Douglas Aerospace. His specialty was guidance and control systems, initially working on missiles and then spending many years on top secret projects that he never could talk about because he still had not been debriefed on them. Later in his career, he worked on the International Space Station Program. At one time, he managed over 300 people in California and Texas. He retired early at age 59 in 1997.

In the fall of 1972, Frank hired Elaine to work in his group as a mathematician. He knew he was going to ask her to marry him even before their first date. They had a whirlwind courtship and engagement, marrying in August of 1973. They spent 50 wonderful years together and had two children, Jenny and Daniel. He was happy that he was able to send both of his children to prestigious colleges and was very proud of them.

As a young man, Frank enjoyed the adventure sport of his time - skiing. He was trailblazing new slopes with wooden skis that strapped to your shoes. He took his family on yearly ski vacations, and taught the kids to ski by skiing backwards in front of them when they were only 4 years old.

His love of jazz music made him a regular at jazz clubs like the Ice House in Pasadena in the 60’s. He was usually the only Asian drinking a cocktail and enjoying the music.

He loved learning how things worked. This sparked his interest in handguns and transportation. He continued target practice until the pandemic. He carved and painted scale model planes from just a block of wood, had a legendary model train track, and loved sports cars, especially Porsches, always owning one.

Frank thoroughly enjoyed his retirement. He was an artist - skilled at watercolor and carving and painting scale models of jets and planes. He even framed and matted all of his art himself. He was a skilled handyman - remodeling the house himself, including the beautiful wood stairs. He was a talented gardener and landscaper - designing the landscaping for both the front and back yards, including a koi pond, rock garden and vegetable garden. He was an avid reader - until the pandemic, making weekly trips to the library, where he would read magazines and check out books. Post pandemic, he switched to a kindle, but still read multiple books weekly. He was a marvelous chef and really loved cooking for his family.

He loved to travel. With the kids, it was mainly in the US, but in 1983 traveled to Japan as a family and in 1988 to Europe. He and Elaine traveled all over the US and internationally. They visited all of the original California missions, many national parks, and almost all of the 50 states. Memorable out of country trips included Egypt, the Netherlands, Spain and Portugal, the Holy Lands, and all over Europe. Many of his watercolors were of places they visited.

Frank was well respected for his honesty, integrity, and intelligence. He valued family and health. Thanks to eating well and daily exercise, he remained healthy for 85 of his 86 years.