Sunday, December 18, 2011

Amazing Grace ~ YouTube Tribute Video

My father worked for the US Forest Service for 36 years. He spent his career training hundreds of men and women to work together to safely fight forest fires. More importantly, he helped these government agencies learn to cooperate, work together and support each other during emergencies.

He unexpectedly passed away on June 27th, 2011. Oftentimes you don’t learn of a person’s impact on others until they are gone.

Over 100 men and women from various fire agencies attended the funeral in uniform. A mixed honor guard of City, County, BLM and Forest Service firefighters participated in a special honor guard to salute and pay tribute to the man who had helped teach them to work together.

At the conclusion of the funeral, nearly 20 firetrucks from all fire agencies escorted our family on an hour and a half drive to the cemetery in Tooele, Utah. At the cemetery we were met by a special mixed honor guard and flag presentation.

Our family was deeply touched by the show of love and support.

I recorded this song to say thank you to all men and women who serve each day and sometimes give their life to make our lives better. Whether they be a member of the US Forest Service, a firefighter, police officer, soldier, or teacher. Thank you.

This song is dedicated to my father and those who set an example for all of us to follow...

The first video is the music video that we filmed in Little Cottonwood Canyon.


This video shows many of the photos and video from the funeral showing the firetrucks, honor guard and flag presentation that was made for my father, Robert Tonioli. It was primarily intended to share with family, friends and others who knew my dad.