Life as a Body — and the People We Carry
Linas JuozėnasDiary ·
Life as a Body — and the People We Carry
On a quieter current of healing, remembering my uncle, and carrying knowledge and care into what comes next.
The world through a body
What is it like to live life as a body? Lately, I have been noticing how strange it feels.
I see what my eyes can see. I hear what my ears can hear. The world reaches me through whatever surrounds me: the places I inhabit, the people I meet, and the information that finds its way into my day. So much depends on what is close enough to reach me.
But there is also everything the body feels before I find words for it — warmth, tiredness, tension, comfort, the wish to be close to someone. Life is not arriving only as thoughts and information. I am noticing its physical presence in a different way.
I also experience the closeness of other people in a different way — the warmth of a voice, kindness in a gaze, the calm of sitting together. Sometimes simply being beside someone says more than words.
Perhaps part of this chapter is learning to be here: not only thinking about life, but feeling what it is like to live it.
A quieter current
And what about healing? Has it been lost forever?
What I experience as that healing current is still here. It no longer feels like a tornado of possibility. Now it is more like a small stream — something quiet and personal, something I notice within myself and in moments of closeness with the people nearest to me. I see this quieter state as temporary, a period of settling, healing, and regaining strength rather than the end of what it may become.
The flow of visions, impressions and information has shaped the way I try to understand things: the reasons behind a person’s choices, the paths available to them, and the effects of the environments and systems they live within.
I keep thinking about how much of a person’s life can become occupied by surviving, responding and keeping up. How easily someone can lose touch with their own needs, their own direction, or what I would call their soul — not because it has disappeared, but because there is so little quiet left in which to hear it.
For now, I want to give others room to take the initiative, too. There is time to listen, to offer people a chance, and to see what they choose to create. I want to see how the world responds when I leave some space for it.
The people we carry
With this change in focus, different memories have returned. I found myself thinking about how quickly people can disappear from everyday conversation, even when they once meant so much.
And I remembered my uncle, Jonas.
I remembered us sitting together at the family table.
That is where this remembrance begins for me. Not with his titles, his publications, or the institutions connected with his name, but with being together as family. Before I try to gather everything he accomplished, there is that memory of him beside us.
To me, he was the smartest person on the planet. He seemed to be everywhere, involved in everything, with a mind that reached far beyond what I could understand at the time. Yet intelligence is only part of what I want to remember.
He had love for people, too. In my memory, his knowledge and his care belong together. And there is another word I want to place beside his name: protector.
As I think about him now, I keep returning to what that word can mean. Protecting people is also about protecting their opportunity to learn, to develop their understanding, and to discover what they are capable of. It is about keeping a path open for a future that has not yet taken shape.
He is among the people I have lost, and sometimes all those absences return together. I cannot sit with him as I once could. There are questions I would ask now, things I would like to tell him, and moments I wish we could share again.
Now I carry him in my heart.
I wanted one place where his life would not be reduced to a few titles or a passing mention. Somewhere to keep the places he learned, the work he did, the people he helped educate, and the love I remember in him.
Gathering those things is not how I came to know him. It is something I want to do because I knew him — because he was my uncle, because we sat together, and because his life means something to me beyond what any public record can hold.
I want to keep his work beside that memory, not in place of it.
The knowledge, the intelligence, the care — and the person who sat with us at the family table.
This is that place.
In loving memory of my uncle
Professor · Habilitated Doctor Jonas Stankūnas
— [1]
Radioelectronics engineer.
Aviation researcher and educator.
Founder of the Antanas Gustaitis Aviation Institute. [2]
A brilliant mind.
A caring heart.
A protector of people.
Protecting the chance to learn
Knowledge and intelligence belong at the heart of his remembrance. So does the question of what a person does with them — whether understanding ends with the person who holds it, or becomes something others can grow through.
His university’s remembrance credits him with building and preserving aviation education and its infrastructure, helping educate pilots, engineers, air traffic controllers and the teachers who would prepare those who came after them. [2]
A published remembrance also recalls his emphasis on well-educated people as the foundation of advanced aviation technology. [7]
To protect someone’s chance to learn is to protect the future they may one day create.
That is what I want to carry forward. A person needs room to ask questions, develop their understanding, and discover what they are capable of. Protecting that opportunity is a way of protecting the person themselves — not deciding their future for them, but helping keep the way open.
The image I carry of him
An oak reaching for the stars
I think of him as an oak: roots deep in the earth, a strong trunk, and branches reaching in many directions. His life did not grow only upwards. It spread outwards, connecting people, places and fields of knowledge.
In that image, his intelligence gives the tree its strength. His care gives it shelter. The branches reach through the sky towards space — and beyond, into possibilities that another generation might one day explore.
I remember both that reach and that shelter: how far a mind can travel, and how much it can make possible for the people around it.
Roots · Places of study and training
Where his knowledge took root
Jonas Stankūnas was born in Pakenė, in the Kriaunai area of Lithuania’s Rokiškis district. He died in Vilnius and was laid to rest in Kriaunai. [1]
1967
Lithuania
Kriaunai Secondary School
Graduated with a silver medal. [4]
1970
Ukraine
1976
Vilnius
Vilnius Civil Engineering Institute — Faculty of Automation
Qualified as an engineer specialising in the design of radio equipment. [4]
1981
Vilnius
Learning beyond familiar ground
Technical work · Leadership · Teaching
Building places where minds could grow
1970–1972
Aviation technician
Worked in a Vilnius aviation unit. [5]
1972–1975
Radio Apparatus Technology Department
Worked as a technical specialist. [5]
1975–1978
Scientific Research Sector
Worked as a senior engineer. [5]
1982–1987
1988–1993
1993–2015
1993–1995
Associate professor — Air Traffic Control Department
Taught within the developing aviation institute. [3]
1995–1997
Professor — Air Traffic Control Department
Continued his teaching work as a professor. [3]
From 1997
2002–2007
Director — Defence Technologies Centre
Led the university’s Defence Technologies Centre alongside his aviation-institute responsibilities. [1]
Guiding new researchers
His professional profile records five successfully defended doctoral dissertations under his supervision, together with service as chair, member or opponent in more than ten doctoral and habilitation procedures. [3]
Keeping the school’s future possible
Published accounts describe his determination to secure resources for aviation education and preserve the school, helping future aviators build their careers in Lithuania. [7]
Understanding put to work
Research, invention and shared knowledge
150+
Scientific articles [1]
14
Inventions, as author or co-author [4]
30+
National and international projects, led or participated in [2]
11
Educational books, authored or co-authored [1]
His scientific interests connected electronics and precise measurement with the wider systems that make aviation possible: metrology, transport engineering, aviation technologies, air transport safety, infrastructure development and new technologies. [1] [3]
His professional profile also identifies environmentally considerate aviation technologies and technologies supporting flight safety as important research interests. [3]
He served as editor-in-chief of the peer-reviewed journals Aviation and Aviation Technologies (Aviacijos technologijos). A later remembrance also records editorial-board service for aviation journals published in other countries. [2] [7]
Words and work that remain
Knowledge left for others to read
Transportas — 1999
Co-author of the monograph. [1]
Lietuvos ateitis pasaulio kontekste — 2003
Co-author of the monograph, Lithuania’s Future in the Global Context. [1]
Gyvenimas skrydžiui — 1999
Led the creative team for the book about aircraft designer and aviator Antanas Gustaitis. Bibliographic records identify Jonas Stankūnas, Marė Baublytė, Algirdas Gamziukas and Gediminas Zemlickas among its contributors. [3] [8]
Vitalijus Babakas: VGTU garbės daktaras — 2004
Compiled the volume honouring Vitalijus Babakas in the series devoted to VGTU honorary doctors. [1]
Zdobysław Goraj: VGTU garbės daktaras — 2008
Compiled the volume honouring Zdobysław Goraj in the same series. [1]
A selection from the research itself
These papers offer a way to encounter some of the questions he helped investigate. They are a selection, not a complete bibliography.
Egidijus Pakalnis, Eduardas Lasauskas and Jonas Stankūnas. Aviation, 2005, 9(1), 26–31. Comparing calculated aerodynamic forces with other research and experimental results. [5]
Co-authored with Zdobysław Goraj, M. Kleinhofs, V. Mikita and A. Pištek. Aviation, 2007, 11(1), 3–5. Recording international exchange between aeronautical research and education. [12]
Security analysis of UAV radio communication system
Darius Rudinskas, Zdobysław Goraj and Jonas Stankūnas. Aviation, 2009, 13(4), 116–121. Examining the security of an unmanned aircraft’s radio link. [9]
Ascending thermal localization and its strongest zone centering by artificial neural networks
Ivan Suzdalev, Jonas Stankūnas and Eduardas Lasauskas. Science – Future of Lithuania, 1(6), 129–132. Using neural networks to investigate rising air currents for aircraft control. The issue is dated 2009; the publisher’s citation record gives 2011. [10]
Wireless technologies to be used for measurement of wing aerodynamic characteristics
Jonas Stankūnas and Darius Rudinskas. Listed in the READ 2010 conference archive hosted by Warsaw University of Technology, Poland. The paper investigates wireless sensing for aerodynamic measurements during flight. [17]
The comparison of the en-route horizontal flight trajectory components
Anrieta Dudoit and Jonas Stankūnas. Science – Future of Lithuania, 7(5), 557–582. Comparing planned and actual flight paths in terms of distance, duration and fuel consumption. The issue is dated 2015; the publisher’s citation record gives 2016. [11]
Branches close to home
Service to education, science and aviation
VGTU Senate — from 1994
Member of the university senate. [3]
Lithuanian Academy of Sciences — 2000–2002
Member of the Transport Council of the academy’s presidium. [2]
Lithuanian aviation industry association — 2006
Board member of the association identified in the university memorial as Lietuvos aviacijos pramonės įmonių asociacija. [2]
Lithuanian national aeronautics technology platform — from 2006
Chair of the platform’s council. [2]
General Jonas Žemaitis Military Academy of Lithuania
Senate member. The university memorial dates this service from 2009; the earlier professional profile gives 2010. [2] [3]
Ministry of Transport and Communications — from 2012
Member of the Transport Science and Innovative Technologies Council. [3]
Across borders · Towards space
Beyond the familiar horizon
His documented work extended into space-sector cooperation as well as aviation, connecting Lithuanian institutions with wider European scientific activity. [1] [2]
EUROPEAN SPACE COOPERATION · 2001–2004
Liaison with ESA
Served as Lithuania’s representative for liaison with the European Space Agency. [1]
SPACE SCIENCE IN LITHUANIA · FROM 2010
Two council roles
Council member of the Lithuanian Space Association and of the Space Science and Technology Institute, as recorded in the university memorial. [2]
European research and representation
European Commission research-programme committees — from 2004
Represented Lithuania in transport, including aeronautics, within the Sixth and Seventh Framework Programme committee structures described in his professional profile. The university memorial specifically records FP7 Cooperation transport-committee service during 2007–2009 and 2011–2013. [3] [2]
ACARE and the European aeronautics technology platform — from 2005
Represented Lithuania in the Advisory Council for Aeronautics Research in Europe and the European aeronautics technology platform. A later remembrance also records membership of ACARE’s General Assembly. [1] [7]
The ACARE Member States Group’s May 2007 report independently lists him as an ACARE member in its Lithuanian contact-point table. The same table also identifies him as a “PC Member.” [16]
International research and education assessment
Served as an expert on international and foreign aeronautics and transport research and education assessment bodies. [7]
International scientific service recorded abroad
ICAS Council — listed in 2010
The official programme of the International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences lists “J. Stankunas, Lithuania” on the ICAS Council among the representatives of member societies. [13]
ICAS 2006 — Flight Management Aids
Named as a session co-chair alongside S. Lintelman of Boeing in the official programme. [14]
ICAS 2008 — Airport I
Named as a session co-chair alongside B. Lamiscarre of ONERA in the official programme. [15]
Riga Technical University, Latvia — 2015
Listed on the scientific committee for the Transport and Aerospace Engineering subsection of the university’s 56th International Scientific Conference, dated 14–16 October 2015. The English committee entry appears on printed page 160. [18]
Aviation and Space Congress, Poland — 2019
Named on the scientific committee in the official brochure for the second congress, scheduled for 18–20 September 2019 and organised by Kielce University of Technology and Rzeszów University of Technology. [19]
Recognition along the way
Honours for a life of work
1997
17 November
2000
Darius and Girėnas Medal
Awarded by Presidential Decree No. 1091, which identifies him as professor, habilitated doctor and director of the Antanas Gustaitis Aviation Institute. [6]
2005
2010
Antanas Gustaitis Medal
Recognised for contributions to the development of Lithuanian aviation. [7]
2013
Plieno sparnai — “Steel Wings”
Received the Lithuanian Air Force honorary badge. [3]
2014
Professor emeritus
Awarded the university’s emeritus title. [2]
2016
VGTU first-class badge of honour
Recognised by Vilnius Gediminas Technical University. [2]
2018
Further
recognition
Certificates of honour and letters of appreciation
The university memorial records recognition from the Lithuanian Government, ministries and armed forces. [2]
The person beside the record
A life in photographs
The person at the family table
All of these accomplishments belong to his life. But when I think of him, I return to something simpler: sitting together at the family table.
The professor, the researcher, the man whose work reached across institutions and countries — and my uncle, there with us. These are not separate people. They are different parts of the same person I miss.
I wish we could sit together once more. There is so much I would like to ask him now, and so much I would like to tell him about what I am trying to build.
For today, I can keep his photographs close, write his name, and give his memory a place outside my own heart. His work deserves to be remembered. So does the love that no list of achievements can contain.
Something to carry forward
A place for him in the Knowledge Ark
Perhaps the Knowledge Ark will carry part of him, too. His name and his work can have a place within it. So can the qualities I loved in him: intelligence, care, and the wish to protect another person’s chance to grow.
I do not want knowledge to become something merely collected and placed out of reach. I want it to be something a person can approach, question and begin to understand — a way towards greater capability and choices of their own.
That is why the chance to learn matters so much to me. It is not only about preserving what someone else already knew. It is also about making room for the intelligence that may develop in the next person, and for discoveries none of us have yet imagined.
As I build the Ark, I want to carry that intention forward: to preserve knowledge, encourage understanding, and protect the conditions in which people can become more capable of shaping their own lives.
In my image of the oak, this is where the next growth begins. A lesson carried away. A question someone is finally able to ask. An opportunity kept open long enough for a person to step through.
The roots remain in the life that came before us. The branches reach into lives we may never know. And somewhere, someone is learning to reach a little further.
Sources and the record behind this remembrance
The personal passages are my memories and reflections. The biographical sections draw on the published records below, including university accounts, research publications and international scientific programmes.
[1] Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija. Jonas Stankūnas . Life dates, education, international training, academic career, research and named books.
[2] Vilnius Gediminas Technical University. Memorial announcement for Professor Jonas Stankūnas , distributed through BNS on 2 September 2021. Institute leadership, educational legacy, research projects, organisational service and honours.
[3] Yra šalis. Professional profile of Jonas Stankūnas . Earlier biographical text preserved for this remembrance: scientific interests, teaching, doctoral supervision, institutional roles and awards.
[4] VILNIUS TECH Emeritus Club. University emeritus profiles — Jonas Stankūnas . School graduation, engineering qualification, doctorate, inventions and academic recognition.
[5] Pakalnis, Lasauskas and Stankūnas — Aviation, 2005. Publisher’s article record and full paper with the authors’ biographical notes . The first page preserves contemporary information about his education and early technical career.
[6] Presidential Decree No. 1091, 17 November 2000. Decree text reproduced by Temidy . Article 2 names Jonas Stankūnas as a recipient of the Darius and Girėnas Medal.
[7] Vilma Bičiūnaitė, Gimtasis Rokiškis. Iš ramios padangės – į aviacijos aukštumas , 28 January 2022. Remembrance, educational commitment, professional service and additional honours.
[8] Bibliographic records for Gyvenimas skrydžiui. Lithuanian library catalogue and the aviation-history bibliography accompanying the profile of Algirdas Gamziukas . Publication details and contributors.
[9] Rudinskas, Goraj and Stankūnas — Aviation, 2009. Publisher’s record for the UAV radio-link security paper .
[10] Suzdalev, Stankūnas and Lasauskas. Publisher’s record for the neural-network and thermal-localisation paper . Issue date and citation date are distinguished in the entry above.
[11] Dudoit and Stankūnas. Publisher’s record for the flight-trajectory comparison paper . Issue date and citation date are distinguished in the entry above.
[12] Goraj, Stankūnas, Kleinhofs, Mikita and Pištek — Aviation, 2007. Publisher’s record for the history of international aeronautical seminars .
[13] International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences — 2010. Official council and committee listing . Page 1 names J. Stankunas, Lithuania, among the ICAS Council’s representatives of member societies.
[14] ICAS 2006 congress programme. Wednesday afternoon sessions . Session 9.9 records his co-chairing role.
[15] ICAS 2008 congress programme. Official oral-session programme . Session 8.3 records his co-chairing role.
[16] ACARE Member States Group — May 2007. Report on aeronautical research activities and capabilities , preserved by Air Transport Net. Printed page 28 identifies Jonas Stankūnas in the Lithuanian research contact-point table.
[17] Warsaw University of Technology, Poland — READ 2010. Conference archive and the paper by Stankūnas and Rudinskas . Wireless measurement of wing aerodynamic characteristics.
[18] Riga Technical University, Latvia — 2015. Programme of the 56th International Scientific Conference . Printed page 160 records his scientific-committee role in transport and aerospace engineering.
[19] Kielce and Rzeszów universities of technology, Poland — 2019. Official brochure for the second Aviation and Space Congress . The second page names Jonas Stankūnas on the scientific committee.