He Wasn't My Grandpa

He wasn’t my grandpa. He just acted like it. Yesterday one of my heroes, Frank Chapin, died. I guess you could call him my 3rd Grandpa.

I had two wonderful Grandpas and enjoyed close relationships with both. One passed away when I was only 12. The other died when I was 32. I loved them both and couldn’t ask for better Grandpas.

When I started at Wilmar Electric Frank had recently retired. Although retired he would still help out with miscellaneous things around the office. He took on various special projects. One of those projects was training me.

Frank was the company’s Treasurer and he would handle the banking, insurance and accounting. As I moved into his old role he was there with me to show me the ropes.

When our insurance carriers came in Frank would join in the meetings. As the agent, longtime friend Al Lange, gave us our rates Frank would ask him “we are paying you $25,000 for umbrella coverage and have we ever had a claim?” He would point out we had “work comp and auto claims from time to time but never umbrella.” He asked Al where all the money was going.

Frank did it in a good natured way with a smile and laugh. He was mostly joking but he also wanted Al to knew we were a good firm, profitable for the agency and they need to keep our rates low.

Frank was loyal. Willmar Electric didn’t change our accountants, banks and insurers very often. If they treated us right. Frank would stay with them. He considered them partners.

Our company values are; treat others the way they want to be treated, Merit Shop, thrifty and meet the customer needs. Frank had all those qualities in great abundance.

But beyond Frank the businessman was another guy.

I have vivid memories of how Frank treated others. He had the ability to make everyone feel welcome. I can’t count the number of times I saw Frank greet somebody like he had been waiting all day just to see them. Everybody was Frank’s friend.

We shared a love for politics. Nobody got more excited when I told them I was running for city council then Frank.

He should have run for office. Both Republicans and Democrats have told me how much they wish Frank would have run. In fact, I had a few ask me to ask him to run. For some reason he wasn’t interested.

Although Frank didn’t run for office he left us with the example of serving others with his military service and work as Fire Chief.

He loved to visit us at the office in his retirement. He managed to come around at break time and seemed to have a new joke to try out on us. He would always walk up to the donuts, cut one in half and take just half. About 90% of the time he went back for the second half. Eventually I think he was just doing it to taunt me.

Speaking of jokes, people often tell me how much they love my Dad’s jokes about Lars and Ole. I was there when Frank told them the first time. I’m not saying my Dad got all his jokes from Frank but I know the dirty little secret, a large percentage of them came from Frank.

When I hear Frank’s name I smile. His example has made me a better person.

His memory cheers me up.

He will be missed.