Frank was born on Feb. 27, 1916 in Ord, Neb., the only child of Everett Lewis Stacy and Abbie Levina Potter Stacy. Shortly after Frank’s birth the family traveled by covered wagon to Everton, Mo. There his mother managed a hotel and his father ran a shuttle service between the train depot and hotel as well as farmed. After a few years they returned to Arnold, Neb., where Frank graduated from Arnold High School in 1933.
During the summer months, when Frank was still in high school, he worked on a ranch taking sheep to summer pastures. He would spend many weeks alone with only his horse and a sheep dog for companions. He often told how lonely he was and how homesick he would get.
After graduation from high school, Frank worked for the Arnold Post Office sorting and delivering mail before attending the University of Nebraska.
Frank married Ivey C. Fanslow in 1936. They moved to Kansas City while he attended Arnold’s Mechanics School and also worked for a bakery delivering bread. Frank and Ivey returned to Arnold, Neb, where he worked in a mechanics shop before enlisting in the Army Air Corps. He and Ivey were later divorced.
In 1942, he attended pilot school in North Platt, Neb., for three months, acrobatic training in Spearfish, Neb., instrument training in Cheyenne, Wyo., and ground school in Pueblo, Colo. He was flight instructor at Vernon, Texas and was commissioned as a flight officer.
While doing a cross country training flight, Frank met and later married Mabel Zeldene Corn. They were married July 8, 1945 in Riverside, Calif. After the war Frank and Zeldene moved to Hiawatha, but in 1947 returned to Chanute to be closer to family. He went back to work for the U.S. Postal Service in 1947, and in 1977, he retired as postmaster after 30 years of service.
His wife Zeldene passed away in 1982, and in 1992, he married Irene Lock Jacob Naughton. They enjoyed eating out, playing cards and making quilts together. Frank would cut out the quilt blocks and Irene would sew them together.
Frank was a member of the First United Methodist Church and was active for many years, serving as treasurer for the building fund, lay leader to annual conference, and was active in committee work as well as many other areas of the church. He belonged to the Masons and for many years was a member of Rotary. He liked working on cars (until they became computerized), fishing, hunting, and just being outside. He was a very caring person always wanting to help others: family, friends or strangers. If there was a need, he wanted to help.
Frank is survived by two sons and their wives, Everett and Della Stacy, Lincoln, Neb., and Charles and June Stacy, Bixby, Okla.; a daughter Francene Johnson and her husband, Alan, Chanute; five grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren; four great-great-grandchildren; stepsons, Tom Naughton and his wife, Shelly, Gary Naughton and his wife, Barbara; and a stepdaughter, Sidney Carlin and her husband, John.
He was preceded in death by his parents; his wives, Ivy Fanslow Stacy, Zeldene Corn Stacy, and Irene Jacobs Naughton Stacy; a stepson, Kenneth (Mc)Naughton; and a stepdaughter, Tammy Naughton Hawk.
Funeral will be 10:30 a.m. Thursday, May 5 at the First United Methodist Church in Chanute. Burial will follow in Neosho County Memorial Park Cemetery.
The family will receive friends this evening from 6 to 7 p.m. at Penwell-Gabel Johnson Chapel.
Memorials in his name may be made to the First United Methodist Church or the American Cancer Society and may be left with the funeral home.
Post a Comment