Frane

Continued from page 1

working at Security State Bank in the early 1990s when she first met Frane, who helped her mail out her “daily piles of bank statements.”

“Through that daily routine, I quickly came to know Howard as someone who wasn’t just efficient and reliable but also kind, compassionate and always willing to share a story or a helping hand,” she said.

Born in 1932 and raised on a dairy farm three miles west of Colby, “Howie” Frane graduated from Owen High School in 1950 and married his wife, Geraldine, before being drafted into the U.S. Army and serving in the Korean War from 1952 to 1954.

“It wasn’t bad,” he said. “I went over as a truck driver and I got into heavy equipment and came back as an equipment operator. We were building bomb bunks and runways for the Air Force.”

Upon returning to Wisconsin, Frane bought a farm on land that is now occupied by the truck stop at Curtiss Corners. He later became the postmaster in Curtiss in 1965 after an old hip injury from his time in the service led him to quit a job he had at Foremost Farms.

In 1984, Frane moved into the postmaster position in Colby. He said the Postal Service paid “a halfway decent salary,” and it also offered job security and good benefits. Frane said he got to know his community better through his years at the post office, but he was also involved “in so many things.”

“When I got out of the army, I bought a farm, but I was also driving truck for Les Bowen, hauling milk, hauling gravel, hauling cattle,” he said.

In the late 1960s, Frane started snowmobiling and became a member of the Curtiss Boomtown Snowmobilers Club and later the Colby Trailblazers Club. At some point, he decided to become a snowmobile safety instructor, something he did for nearly three decades.

“I felt that somebody needed to be teaching these kids what to do,” he said. “I had enough experience where I could do that.”

Frane was lucky to be in Curtiss during the “Boomtown” years, when snowmobile salesman Les Bowen drew hundreds of enthusiasts to his dealership in the village.

“One time, he sold 200 snowmobiles out of that little place in one year,” he recalled. “He was kind of like a fly, he was all over.”

For 21 years, Frane said he and his son did cross-country snowmobile trips together, and one winter, he and mail carrier Roger Klimpke rode all the way around Lake Superior, starting in Curtiss and going northeast over to Sault Ste. Marie in Michigan and then looping back around to Thunder Bay, Canada before heading south.

“When I came home, I had 2,001 miles when I backed into the shed,” he said.

Frane was also a founding member of the Curtiss Lions Club in 1980, and when he moved to Colby, he joined the local Lions Club in 1984. He said he enjoyed the camaraderie and being able to help less fortunate individuals.

“I took six mission trips over to Jamaica,” he said. “The first year we built a school and we worked on a church. They built a clinic. We worked on building homes.”

Serving in the island nation, Frane encountered a much different standard of living there, with no electricity and no running water.

As the oldest of nine children, Frane said he is the only one who stayed in the area. He and Geraldine had three of their own kids, and in October, they welcomed their first great-great grandchild. When asked about all his years of service in various organizations, Frane said it’s kept him busy but he remains humble about it.

“I’ve been involved a little,” he said. “I was a glutton for punishment I guess.”

Editor’s note: An article about Todd and Kelly Schmidt, recipients of the chamber’s Community Service Award, will appear in next week’s edition.

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT - Howard Frane accepts his Lifetime Achievement Award from Connie Gurtner at this year’s AbbyColby Crossings Chamber of Commerce banquet.

STAFF PHOTO/KEVIN O’BRIEN