Sidney J. Frank, Jr. Obituary

This morning I wrote my grandfather's obituary, based on notes that he had provided for the purpose. I went with my sister and my father's brother to the funeral home to arrange for services and what not. The funeral director made a few changes to what I had written, and added in the last two paragraphs (advising as to the arrangements that were made). It cost nearly $1,000 to run the obituary for one day in The Journal News (you don't want to know what the total cost of the funeral came to...):

Sidney J. Frank, Jr., a 60 year resident of Rye Brook, NY died at home June 28, 2008 surrounded by his family. He was born April 6, 1921 in Greenwich, CT to Sidney and Mary Selzer Frank. Raised in Rye, NY, Sidney graduated from Rye High School in 1938. He served as a corporal in the US. Army Air Corps during World War II. He married Elizabeth Zoel of Port Chester at Our Lady of Mercy Church on April 9, 1944. They were married 58 years at the time of Elizabeth's passing on July 16, 2002. Upon returning from the war he was employed as an electrician and was an active member of the I.B.E.W. Local #503/#3 Union for 67 years.

Sidney was very active in his church and community: he was a parishioner of the Our Lady of Mercy Church, and a member of the Choir for 55 years; a volunteer firefighter and past captain of Washington Engine & Hose Co #4 in the Port Chester Fire Department for 55 years; a member of the Port Chester Knights of Columbus as Forth Guard Knight, a member and officer of the Port Chester Elks Lodge #864; a member and officer of the Port Chester Lyons Club where he ran their fundraising efforts for the Make A Wish Foundation; a member of the Rye Brook Senior's Chorus; a member of the Rye Town Electrical Licensing Board; and a member of the American Legion Rye Post #128.

Sidney is survived by his sister, Marguerite MacAulay of Rye, NY; his two sons, Keith of Rye Brook, NY and Peter V. of Marietta, GA; his four grandchildren, Jennifer of Rye Brook, NY, Peter C. of Yonkers, NY, Sharon de Luca of Bedford, NY, and Graham of Massachusetts; six nieces and nephews; and three great-grandchildren, Jennal Brooks, Summer de Luca, and Cadance de Luca.

Visitation will be 4-8PM Wednesday July 2, 2008 at Craft Memorial Home, Inc. Mass of Christian Burial will be 10AM on Thursday July 3, 2008 at Our Lady of Mercy Church 260 Westchester Ave., Port Chester, NY. Interment to follow at Saint Mary’s Cemetery Rye Brook, NY. Memorial donations in memory of Sidney may be made to Jansen Hospice 69 Main St., Tuckahoe, NY 10707

CRAFT MEMORIAL HOME, INC.

40 Leicester St. Port Chester, NY

(914) 939-0131

Here's a link back to my article
for my Gather.com friends.

R.I.P, Grandpa

My grandfather just died. :(

My Grandfather, My Younger Brother

My father just called me. I think I posted how my grandfather had three heart attacks and a stroke last summer. I know I've posted about his melanoma. Well after his heart attacks and strokes last summer, apparently they decided to do nothing about the melanoma. On Monday, my father told me that my grandfather went to the doctors as his legs weren't working and he was getting worse, and they "discovered" that his legs were covered with the tumors from the melanoma. The oncologist decided not to do anything about it because he's lived long enough.

So now my father just called and said that the priest was coming to administer last rites and he's apparently unconscious. It's going to take me around four hours to get up there, as I have to take three separate buses.

Last weekend my younger brother, John, who's a paranoid schizophrenic with bi-polar disorder, decided to self-medicate as he had stopped taking his medications. He felt a need to "become one with nature" and get away from the people who were chasing him. He got butt-ass-naked and ran through a field of thorns. There wasn't a square inch on his body that wasn't covered in scratches or cuts. He lost his mobile phone, his wallet, and his glasses.

My sister and I had planned a visit to see mom and John, and to help John deal with custody/visitation/child support issues regarding his 10-month old daughter, Cherokee. His ex-gf (Cherokee's mother) isn't letting John see his daughter, and is running up unnecessary hospital bills.

So when we got there, John had just come home from his little excursion in nature, mom was a wreck, and I had to spend nearly three hours trying to figure out what to do with him. Eventually, after speaking with mobile crisis teams, I called 911 and had him taken to hospital. I went with him, and speak around six hours waiting for a nurse to tell me I had to leave, but I had to speak with her about his condition. He's done this sort of thing before ... the last time he did it he jumped off the roof of the apartment building where he was living, because the "ninjas were chasing [him]." They didn't even begin tending to his medical issues (e.g., removing thorns that were embedded into his skin, etc.),

So long story short, the next day we go to the hospital to find out what they're doing with him. He's still in the psych ER, and they're still tending to his medical issues. After waiting 2-3 hours, I finally get to talk to a mobile crisis counsellor who, apparently, makes the decisions about patients in the psych ER at the hospitals in Hartford, CT (where John and Mom live). He tells me he'll admit him to the psych unit of the hospital to medication stabilization and, even after describing past events to him, he told me that they won't hold him beyond that. So basically, John will stabilize on his meds in a week or two and he'll be released so he can not take his meds and do the same shit all over again. CT sure has a fucked up way of dealing with mental health.

I need to get up to Rye Brook so I can say goodbye to gramps and yell at him for allowing my father's brother, Keith, to treat me as he did and make me homeless for 2.5 years.

I could sure use a valium right now....

Lightbulbs to Leadership

The Sierra Club has an interesting video/commercial out urging us to take action against Climate Change. I'm placing it here for your convenience, and also because I thought it was pretty damned cool.