It has been several months since I have updated this blog. I am working on putting something together but first, I wanted to share with you all that we lost Yuri's Grandfather, Con Frank in August to heart failure. He was loved and admired by many and we miss him already. Below is a nice write-up from the funeral program.
Conrad George Burns Frank passed away peacefully on Monday, August 24, 2009 of heart failure at Fairbanks Memorial Hospital. He was 87 years old.
Con was born on April 11, 1922 in Granum, near Calgary, Alberta to George and Helen Burns Frank. His father had immigrated from Germany and his mother had moved west from New Brunswick. The family farmed and had a ranch. There were four children: Marguerite (Margie), Con, Dorothy (Dawn) and Katherine (Kay). Con’s father, George, died in a farm accident when Con was just seven. In the mid 1930s, Helen moved the family to Vancouver, where Margie and Con attended Kipsilano High School, graduating in 1939. That fall Con's mother moved the family to Ellensburg, Washington, because they had close family friends there and the economy was improving more quickly in America.
During World War II, Con served in the U.S. Army in the European and Asian theaters. While in the Army, he became a United States citizen. In the summer of 1945, Con married Helen Dimm, and a year later they moved to Fairbanks, because they felt there were "a lot of opportunities for a young man" here, and he knew the university had a good school of engineering. Con attended the University of Alaska on the G.I. Bill and earned a degree in Civil Engineering in 1949. In the meantime, sons Randy and Darryl, known to all as Darry, were born. Andrea, Mary and Steve followed in the 1950s. In the early 1950s Con built the family home on Sunset Drive and they moved in and lived there as the children grew up. In the late 1950s the family acquired a lot at Harding Lake; Con, with the help of the "big boys" (Randy and Darry), built a cabin where the family enjoyed spending many happy summer days and nights. In 1968 tragedy struck when Darry was killed in a motorcycle accident. Just five years later, in 1973, tragedy struck again when Con’s wife, Helen Dimm Frank, passed away.
Con was born on April 11, 1922 in Granum, near Calgary, Alberta to George and Helen Burns Frank. His father had immigrated from Germany and his mother had moved west from New Brunswick. The family farmed and had a ranch. There were four children: Marguerite (Margie), Con, Dorothy (Dawn) and Katherine (Kay). Con’s father, George, died in a farm accident when Con was just seven. In the mid 1930s, Helen moved the family to Vancouver, where Margie and Con attended Kipsilano High School, graduating in 1939. That fall Con's mother moved the family to Ellensburg, Washington, because they had close family friends there and the economy was improving more quickly in America.
During World War II, Con served in the U.S. Army in the European and Asian theaters. While in the Army, he became a United States citizen. In the summer of 1945, Con married Helen Dimm, and a year later they moved to Fairbanks, because they felt there were "a lot of opportunities for a young man" here, and he knew the university had a good school of engineering. Con attended the University of Alaska on the G.I. Bill and earned a degree in Civil Engineering in 1949. In the meantime, sons Randy and Darryl, known to all as Darry, were born. Andrea, Mary and Steve followed in the 1950s. In the early 1950s Con built the family home on Sunset Drive and they moved in and lived there as the children grew up. In the late 1950s the family acquired a lot at Harding Lake; Con, with the help of the "big boys" (Randy and Darry), built a cabin where the family enjoyed spending many happy summer days and nights. In 1968 tragedy struck when Darry was killed in a motorcycle accident. Just five years later, in 1973, tragedy struck again when Con’s wife, Helen Dimm Frank, passed away.
In 1975 Con married Helen Atkinson. They met when Con escorted Helen, who was then writing an article on the Yukon River bridge project, to the worksite. They enjoyed 34 years of shared interests in construction, travel and their children, grandchildren and great- grandchildren. Over the years Con attended countless sport competitions, concerts and graduations of his children and grandchildren, always cheering them on in their endeavors and accomplishments.
During the 1950s Con did construction work, and from 1954 to 1956 he was Fairbanks' city engineer. In 1959 he joined the contracting firm GHEMM Company, Inc. as its engineer and managing partner with Clyde Geraghty, Carl Erickson, Bob Mitchell and Harvey Marlin II. The GHEMM families became close friends and have remained so through the years. By the time of his retirement, GHEMM had completed hundreds of millions of dollars of construction in Alaska, including, perhaps most notably, the Yukon River bridge in joint venture with Manson-Osberg of Seattle. Over the years, GHEMM Company offered many Fairbanks youth their first jobs and supported countless families throughout the state through employment on their construction projects.
Con contributed to the development and well-being of Fairbanks and interior Alaska in many capacities. He served on the Board of Directors of the Municipal Utilities System, the University of Alaska Board of Regents, the Board of Directors and as president of the Association of General Contractors of Alaska, the Board of Directors of First National Bank of Fairbanks, the Fairbanks Development Authority, and for twenty-five years on the Greater Fairbanks Community Hospital Foundation Board. Con received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Fairbanks Chapter of the Alaska Society of Professional Engineers in 1996 and the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of Alaska Fairbanks in2001. Con and his wife Helen Atkinson received Fairbanks' Heart of Gold Award in 2002, and they were jointly honored by the Fairbanks Chamber of Commerce in 2008 for their outstanding contributions to the Fairbanks community.
Con was known by all as a man of integrity. Advice Con shared with his daughter, Mary, gives insight to the type of man he was - “Small people talk about people. Mediocre people talk about things. And great people talk about ideas.”
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