Frank E. Sullivan 1945-April 15, 2014

I first met Frank Sullivan Jr. in September 1957 when the Frank and Jane Sullivan family moved into their new home at 5491 W. 11th Avenue in the Palm Springs section of Hialeah, about 2 blocks from my home. Frank was the oldest of the 5 Sullivan brothers, with brother Patrick one year younger, brother John, who became my best buddy for years and who was two years younger, brother Edward "Eddie" four years younger and brother Richard "Rick" six years younger. In the early years Frank hung around with us younger guys exploring the wilderness areas west of our development, going to movies, riding our bikes all over, going shopping, delivering the Miami News, etc. My father loved to fish in canals all over northwest Dade County and he would take a bunch of us fishing on numerous occasions. There were times when I didn't want to go fishing because the younger Sullivans were doing something else and he would make me go with him which ticked me off so sometimes I would talk Frank into going with him since he liked to fish so much. My dad liked to fish with someone else and he really enjoyed Frank's company instead of cantankerous me when I was forced to go fishing instead of doing stuff with my buddies. I also believe that Frank went along with my dad on Mr. Herb Jones' fishing boat out on overnight fishing excursions in the Atlantic, and the Gulf of Mexico out of Islamorada where they really hauled in boatloads of great eating fish.

Frank attended Palm Springs Junior High and was in the Hialeah High School Class of 1963. Frank then attended the University of Miami and graduated in the class of 1966 with a degree in Computer Sciences. He worked full-time in the Programming Department at the university and took summer classes so he could graduate one year earlier. Frank then moved to the Los Angeles area and worked for aircraft/aerospace companies with federal government defense contracts. He was an idol to me because he would make good money for his computer expertise for part of the year and then take months off so he could go to the beach and do what he wanted to do in the summer. Frank later moved to Hawaii where he spent the rest of his life living in paradise.

I was fortunate to have dinner with Frank, his wife Raquel and son Teddy in July 2009 when I was on Kauai with my wife Karen and daughter Donna. Karen was sick most of the day with food poisoning and unable to go to dinner with us so I took our daughter Donna with me. Little did I know at the time that would be the last time I would see Frank in person. I am so thankful that we made a side trip to Kauai to see Frank and his family in their hometown.

Frank passed away from prostate cancer in Kapaa, Kauai at 9:20pm Hawaiian Time on April 15, 2014 and his daughter Katherine and I were exchanging Facebook messages back and forth about his condition at the time of his passing. I was really saddened to hear of Frank's passing and I promised Katherine that I would add him to my Memoriams gallery so that others will remember him for many years to come. I sincerely thank Katherine for sending me most of the images of her dad that are in this gallery.

(More photos to be added in the future)