My final message to my uncle…
It’s important to me to tell everyone about what kind of an Uncle we had in Uncle Frank….I know I speak for all of us when I say he was a “great� uncle�…always smiling, always ready to help in whatever way he could. Whether you needed him to help physically or emotionally…he was there…and there in a BIG WAY.
My sister, Carol, and I go back a long way with Uncle Frank. He was the first sailor we ever wrote a letter to, and he wrote back! Uncle Frank and his family lived across the street from us, and we were a part of his courtship with Aunt Roe. He was so handsome in his Navy uniform. When he married Aunt Roe, my sister and I were invited…it was our first grown up wedding ever…they made us feel such a part of it all. Going over to their apartment on 6th street was such fun. We knew him as a bus driver, and as a Good Humor man. Later when they moved to West Paterson, we never left them alone. My sister and I wish speed dial was invented then…we couldn’t call them fast enough to tell them all that was happening: Carol’s attempts to runaway from home, fights with Grandma Mary, the news of a new boyfriend, you name it, they knew it. He and Aunt Roe let us into their lives, and we loved every minute of it.
I remember sleigh rides on the hill in West Paterson…and dropping by with a date to spend a few hours…their home was always open to us. And it was always soooo much fun. Uncle was never embarrassed by any of our antics, he never judged us; he simply enjoyed who we were.
We were there when his children were born, and they shared their family with us for all these years…bringing Dana to my father’s store in Hasbrouck Heights to show us how she took her first steps, learning about “cradle cap� when baby Steven lost all his hair, and who could forget the announcement that Aunt Roe was pregnant with Christi at my Mom & Dad’s 25th wedding anniversary… …Wow what wonderful memories! What great times. Oh yea, that was Uncle Frank…a treat for us all.
He truly got a kick out of all his nieces and nephews and in later years, the children of his nieces and nephews. Nothing major ever happened without Uncle Frank. He was the voice of reason, the silent strength. I know it’s hard for all of us to think of him as gone, but I think he would prefer that you think of him as always near. He will be the cloud formation in the sky, or the shadow you see at dusk. He will be that reasoning in your brain that says: “maybe you need to turn this a little more to the right�, or that feeling in your gut that tells you: “If it feels right, do it.�
Uncle Frank was our hero…I share a very personal story with you now that I’m not sure anyone else knows but me and Uncle. The day Grandpa Joe (Giuseppe) died, I remember going to Clubb Street and wanting to be there when my mom got home from work so that I could break the news to her. When I got there, Grandma Mary was home and crying; Aunt Roe and Uncle Frank were there, and we were waiting for my mom to come home from work. When I saw her pull into the driveway, my knees buckled, and I said to Uncle Frank, “I can’t do this�, and he said, “It’s all right; I’ll do it for you.� And when my mom walked in, he gently told her that grandpa had died. He was my hero…he saved me from having to give her the news…and he was so gentle and kind. I’ll never forget it! Thank you, Uncle Frank.
I’m sure you all have stories just like this…because that’s who he was.
Kind, how’s this for kind. He and Aunt Roe drove my parents to Florida so that they could visit with Aunt Ann one last time.
God has taken him much too soon. I just hope he knew how much he meant to all of us. So, Uncle Frank, “thank you for all the years of your sweet, sweet friendship.�</b></font><br><br>
