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Comedian donates $1m for welcome center

SHALIMAR, Fla. (AFPN) -- Bob and Dolores Hope have donated $1 million to the Air Force Enlisted Foundation to build a facility here to honor retired Col. Robert W. Gates, a pilot on many of the comedian's United Services Organization jaunts across the globe.

The 6,500 square foot welcome center will be built next to the Dolores Hope All Faiths Chapel, with a formal garden -- the "Garden of Hope" -- between the two buildings. The new facility will house an auditorium, meeting rooms and a small kitchen. Completion is scheduled for October.

During a groundbreaking ceremony Jan. 6 for the Bob Gates Welcome Center/Auditorium, Kelly Hope spoke of his father's friendship with the former commander.

"Colonel Gates has been a dear and good friend for 60 years plus," Hope said. "He was more than my father's pilot; he's been his closest friend, confidant and fishing buddy. At home, whenever Colonel Gates' name is mentioned, my father always smiles."

And although his famous father couldn't be there for the event, the younger Hope said his father was there in spirit, and Bob Hope Village was one of the things of which he was most proud.

"(Bob Hope Village) started with a dream," Gates said. "But we're not going to stop there. The next thing we're going to build is the assisted living facility so the residents can stay here with their friends forever," referring to the project the foundation has been working on for several years, raising funds to build an assisted living facility on the Bob Hope Village campus.

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