Frank Bernard STANAITIS

Blev 67 år.

Äktenskap med Rogene (Mildred) Ahlstrom (1925 - 2006)

Noteringar

Frank B. Stanaitis was my grandfather. He was born August 18th 1913 in Cook County, Illinois. His father was Frank Stanaitis and mother, Marcella Arlene Janovich. They were married in 1912, and divorced 1917. Her second husband William Matus would raise Frank and his younger brother Peter as his own. He had another half brother born of this marriage, and a half sister born from the remarriage of his father, Frank.

Frank had a chauffeur license, and from photos discovered after my grandmother's death, it showed an adventurous man. Photos showed him in California, watching a professional baseball team practicing, and some Hollywood Blvd images, later images showed him up in the North West working on building roads, early images of mountainous roads being created. There is also, an image of men surrounding a tree with a bear in it. I assume these images were before WWII, so they must have been taken circa 1938-1940.

We do know that he joined the US Army March 5th 1941. He was assigned to Division 33, Company E, 129th Infantry, Second Battalion. He fought in the Pacific Theatre during WWII. He was discharged in August 1944. He married Rogene Ahlstrom on December 10, 1944. They had three children, and their marriage fell apart before 1950. They divorced officially in 1952.

Frank B. Stanaitis was estranged from his three children all of his and their life. The only time he would meet up with two of his three children, would be in 1981 just before he passed away. I was lucky enough to be present. I was just a child, however the memory is still vivid. He was blind, and I still can feel the gratitude of that special moment. It must have been so strange for him, but one can image it meant the world.

Frank B. Stanaitis, never did marry again. I do not know if any other children were born of relationships he might have had. He was gutted out of his childfren's lives and probably did not feel welcome. He had been a drinker and caused significant damage to his relationship with his first wife. His drinking was the reason he became blind as well. Accordingly, he was in a bar brawl and a shattered bottle had entered his eye or head causing permanent damage.

My whole life he was someone cut out of the fabric of family. Yet, I know as a genealogist, you can't really do that. He was the shadow in the family, and it certainly will follow you around. I embrace this man, because we do not fully know his story. We do not know the story of his fight in the Pacific. We do not know his struggles, as no one was there to help him. His father walked out on him when he was young, he fought in the Pacific, and he had a family that would leave him. He lived during a time when people didn't get therapy or assistance. They dove into a bottle to calm or enrage the damage caused by war, and whatever else he had deeply rooted in childhood.

I honor and salute my grandfather Frank B. Stanaitis
I am proud to be your granddaugther xo

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