Obit: Frankie, Ralph (1912 – 1975)

Transcriber: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Frankie, Sullivan, Louma, Herbster, Korpala, Smith, Piekola, Schwanke, Hinsin, Wegelius

----Source: Tribune/Record/Gleaner (Loyal, Wis.) 20 Feb 1975

Frankie, Ralph (13 JAN 1912 – 26 JAN 1975)

Services were held Thursday, January 30 at Kraut-Maurina Funeral Home in Owen for Ralph (Vic) Frankie, 63, of Withee (Clark Co., Wis.), and formerly of the Loyal area. Mr. Frankie died January 26, 1975 at St. Joseph's Hospital, Marshfield, where he had been admitted January 21. The Rev. Robert H. Sullivan, pastor of Nazareth Lutheran Church of Withee, officiated, and burial was made in Withee Riverside Cemetery. The pallbearers were Axel Louma, Sam Louma of Herbster, Wally Korpala of Minneapolis, Henry Smith of Greenwood, Ted Piekola of Withee, and Frank Schwanke of Loyal.

Mr. Frankie was born January 13, 1912 at Herbster, Wisconsin, and as a young boy was adopted by Charles Frankie of Iron River, and in 1927 moved to rural Loyal.

In 1942 he entered the U.S. Army, serving with the Eighth Air Force in England during World War II. After his discharge he lived near Greenwood, and then bought a home in Herbster. He worked as a heavy machinery operator at many construction jobs. He spent some time in Iceland as a construction operating engineer building an Air Force Base. He also helped build the Taconite Site at Silver Bay, Minnesota. They moved to Minneapolis where he worked four years on road construction.

In January of 1974 he retired and they made their home in Withee. He was a member of the American Legion Post No. 175 of Loyal and the International Union of Operating Engineers.


His marriage on June 13, 1942, at Bessemer, Michigan, was to the former Laina Hinsin, who survives him. Other survivors include a son, Gene Frankie, Withee; his foster father, Charles Frankie, Iron River; two foster brothers, Oscar Frankie, Phoenix, Arizona, and William Frankie, Iron River; a brother, Roy Wegelius, Lake Worth, Florida, and two grandchildren.