Frank

Our friend Frank passed away this week.  He had multiple myeloma.  Blood cancer is called liquid cancer.  Frank lived 11 years after they diagnosed what he had.  Larry first met him when he ran the A Q Chicken restaurant in Russellville.  Frank served in Viet Nam.  His dad served for Hitler.  Frank said if you were a citizen in that country you had no choice which certainly makes sense.  The family came to the U. S. when Frank was about 3 or 4.  His Dad bought a farm near Atkins, Ar.  Frank graduated from Tech with a degree in sociology.  He was first a probation officer for youth.  He said this was the worst job anyone could have.   Kids in trouble and nothing you could do.  Most had home problems and you had no where to put them and no way to help them.  You were there to assist with nothing at all to help.  It nearly drove him crazy.  Then he moved to adult probation which he said was so much easier.  Frank was also a pastor of Gumlog Church for 37 years.  We attended off and on.  He was also our neighbor.  We will miss him, but he suffers no more.

Frank told me some about life in Germany.  Each town had one church.  If you wanted to go to church you could attend it.  Just one!  It was Lutheran.  A few people attended church in homes.  His mother did.  These churches were harassed by the government there.  Everything, everyone, and every event was recorded.  He it was pretty easy to trace ancestry there.  It was all written down in church and government records.  If not destroyed by WW II, you could trace who you are just like jumping checkers or a checker board.  His parents spoke German, but wanted their 3 sons to speak English.  Frank knew many German words, but he thought in English he said.  He learned to speak German before English, but lost the language.  His home town is near the area of Hamburg.  This little village once had 133 shoemakers but only one today the computer said.  Frank went back there to visit the place of his birth.   Frank was pure American, pure patriot!   He felt no homeage to his birth country!  Below is a photo of his home town today!

Below is his obituary.

Frank Albin Richter, 67, of Pottsville, died Tuesday, January 19, 2016, at St. Mary's Medical Center. He was born in Barmstedt, Germany, to Rudolf Otto and Alma Christine Errolot Richter. He was a 1966 graduate of Atkins High School and alumni of Arkansas Tech University.
He was the pastor of Gumlog Fellowship Church, retiring after 37 years. He also retired from the State of Arkansas, where he was a Probation and Parole Officer. After his retirement he served as a Hospice Chaplain. He was a member of the VFW and a decorated Vietnam Veteran. He and his wife are members of the Atkins First Baptist Church. He was a motorcycle enthusiast and was always gauging the weather by if it was a good day to ride or a great day to ride.
He was preceded in death by his parents. Survivors include his wife, Linda Kay Richter; two daughters and sons-in-laws, Petra and John Davis and Michelle and Epifanio Hernandez, all of Pottsville; two brothers and sisters-in-laws, Kurt and Kay Richter of Russellville and Rolf and Sandy Richter of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma; and three grandchildren, Kylea Davis, Trey Davis and Mariana Hernandez.
The funeral service will be at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, January 23, 2016, at the Shinn Chapel. Burial will be in the Atkins City Cemetery, with military honors by VFW Rogers-Rye Post #2283, and under the direction of Shinn Funeral Service of Russellville.