|
A short recording of Frank discussing his time in the Navy will soon be available. You may read a transcript of the entire file by going to Frank’s Audio Page. The following documents which are related to Frank's life are available for you to view:
One of the earliest photos of Frank
High school photo of Frank -- 16 years old
Frank on Sandusky Street pondering his future
Wilson, North Carolina radio station--early 1940's
Radio Station Baseball team in North Carolina
Charleston field during World War II
Frank's last assignment during the war was on Green Island in the Marianas.
Native village on Green Island
Natives on Green Island
Shipboard photo of Frank and some navy buddies
Aboard the USS Tulagee on the way home from the Pacific after the Japanese surrender
WCAE radio station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1940's
Frank checking out WCAE power equipment, 1946
Frank's fellow employees at KDKA
Adjusting the camera at KDKA
Showing off his newest design at Westinghouse, Baltimore, Maryland
Sharing a meal with fellow engineers at Westinghouse, Baltimore, Maryland
Honored at Motorola, Phoenix for attaining a Professional Engineering License
Sharing the honors at the Motorola Patent Award Banquet The following links are documents related to Frank's education. Your browser will open a new page when you click on the link.
Visiting in Phoenix in 1980
Visiting their daughter in San Diego
Celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary
Mowing the lawn once last time before moving to San Angelo
Dad and mom in San Angelo -- Frank wearing his West Texas apparel
Checking the temperature of air coming out of air conditioning ducts at his grandson's house with one of his gadgets. |
AN ITALIAN-AMERICAN LIFE STORYFRANCESCO IANNARINOThis is the life story of Frank Edward Henry. He was born on January 28, 1920 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and was baptized Francesco Iannarino. He was the son of Mariano Iannarino and Provvidenza La Manna. Frank died in San Angelo, Texas on May 11, 2005.
Frank was born into a perfect time for someone of his unique talents. Radio technology was in its infancy as Frank entered his teenage years. Frank's interest and aptitude for radio technology was just a small part of his quest for knowledge of how the world and every thing in it worked. Frank had a scientific frame of mind, and the scientific developments of the 20th century fueled Frank's dreams, even to the end of his earthly life.
Above left is a photo of Allegheny High School in 1917 from the Library and Archives Division of the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania in Pittsburgh, Pa. The photo is part of the "Historic Pittsburgh" collection and is hosted by the University of Pittsburgh's Digital Research Library and is accessible through the Carnegie Library's website. Above right is an old photo provided by Rose Henry showing Frank as a teenager with a group of his friends.
After being accepted by the Navy, Frank reported for duty to the Navy recruitment office expecting to be given a uniform and sent on to basic training. Instead, on enlistment day, the Navy discovered that Frank had a commerical Radio Telegrapher's license and transported Frank immediately to Philadelphia to begin work in NAI, a Navy radio station, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At this station naval personnel communicated by Morse code and voice transmissions with ships at sea. The United States was at war, and the Navy needed men with Frank's skills to communicate with the Navy fleet and merchant vessels on the high seas. Frank never went through basic training during his enlistment in the Navy, and Frank relates that he never learned to shoot a gun. Several weeks after Frank enlisted, he finally received his uniforms; in the interim, Frank worked at a Naval Intelligence center in his street clothes. Above right is a photo of the Keystone Radio School in Pittsburgh, Pa in 1942, from his sister's collection of "historic" photographs.
Above left is a photo of the University of Houston Science Building in 1942. Above right is a photo of the Navy barracks at the University of Houston in 1942. These photos come from a collection of photographs taken during Frank's Navy career.
Above to the left is an aerial photo of Green Island taken by Frank during his Naval service on the island during World War II.
When Frank left the United States mainland, Bert boarded a train to Pittsburgh to live with Frank's parents, Mariano and Provvidenza Iannarino, until the end of the war. Frank was "mustered out" of the Navy when the war ended and returned to Pittsburgh just in time for the birth of his first child. Frank and Bert moved to a small apartment of their own to continue their married life together. Frank and Bert lived in an apartment on Sampsonia Street from December of 1945 until May of 1948 when they moved to another apartment on Porterfield Street from May of 1948 until September of 1950. Frank and Bert's wedding reception at Mrs. Uricchio's home in June of 1941. Mrs. Uricchio and family were friends of Bert -- above left. Bert relaxing at Myrtle Beach on their honeymoon in June of 1941.
Frank attended the Oliver Veteran Training program in Pittsburgh from February 1946 until February of 1948, attending college preparatory classes. Frank was unable to make much progess in his continuing education as his position at KDKA required work hours which were not regular. Frank was assigned to a split-shift, that is, some weeks Frank worked during the daytime and other weeks he worked at night. Above right is a recent photo (2002) of the Henry family's home at 3762 Mt.Troy Road. The present owners have added on to the original structure. The original home had a large open porch over the garage. In the meantime Frank and Bert purchased a lot on Mt. Troy Road on the Northside of Pittsburgh, and after paying off the lot, used the lot as collateral for a loan to build their own home. By the time the lot was paid for and the new house was ready, their oldest daughter was the required age to begin elementary school. They had a second daughter , 2 and 1/2 years younger, and another child on the way. Just before school started in September 1950, Frank, Bert and family moved into their new home. In January of 1959 Frank moved his family to Baltimore. For about 5 months they lived in one of the "rowhouses" that were built in Baltimore, Maryland in the early years of the 19th century. Frank and Bert purchased a home in Ellicott City, about a 30 minute drive from Frank's work. The area where the new home was located was predominantly a "bedroom community" with scattered farmland, though there was a small town--Ellicott City--nearby. Frank and Bert's daughters. The photo is from the early 1960's. Above Right is a photo of the family home which was purchased in Ellicott City, Md. Below right is Frank with his diploma from Johns Hopkins University
While working for Motorola Semiconductor Division in Phoenix, Arizona Frank's position was as a Section Manager of Electronic Equipment Engineering Group. He was responsible for the design of automated semiconductor production equipment. Frank also supervised 17 engineers, technicians and draftsman. Frank continued his education taking graduate level courses in management, systems engineering, automatic control systems, microprocessors, computer programming, D.I. water systems and direct digital control of HVAC systems. He continued to participate in company sponsered workshops in hydraulics, pneumatic controls, breaker coordination and EPA rules and regulation concerning the hazardous materials used in semiconductor production. Frank remained at his Phoenix position from November of 1968 until July of 1977 when he transferred with Motorola to their new semiconductor facility in Austin, Texas. Above to the left is the house Frank and Bert owned in Scottsdale, Arizona. Below to the right is Frank and Bert's home in Austin, Texas.
At the age of 65, Frank took an "early retirement" from Motorola. After cleaning and re-organizing his garage and workshop, Frank went back to work at Motorola as an independent contractor. Frank had started his own business, Henry Engineering. For the next 15 years Frank's business thrived while he worked for several Central Texas area corporations designing and upgrading facilities and equipment. Frank continued to broadcast weekly on his ham radio station, W5VWY, a hobby which he had developed in his early teens. Frank held the highest Amateur Radio license available from the FCC.
Above left are Frank and Bert sightseeing in Italy. Below right is the couple in their new home in San Angelo. The Central Texas area had experienced tremendous growth since Frank and Bert had moved there in the late 1970's. Safely navigating the congested streets became much too difficult and stressful for Frank as he aged. The work of caring for their large home and property was unmanageable, as Bert could no longer assist Frank as she had always done. Frank and Bert had often visited their a younger daughter in San Angelo and liked the "laid back" style in the West Texas town. When Frank was 80 years old, the couple decided to "down-size" and move to San Angelo. Frank would retire for "good" and they would start a new kind of life.
Above and to the left is a photo of dad in his favorite chair in San Angelo. Above and to the right is a photo of mom and dad in their San Angelo home.
Frank was now 82 years old, and yet he was still strong and vital, and in a few short months, Frank was once again doing the things he loved to do -- talking with his ham radio friends, exploring the internet, shopping and eating out in San Angelo with his wife Bert, sharing afternoon visits with his son-in-law. In the evenings Frank and Bert often visited their grandson and his wife and three children. In addition, Frank continued to "putter" in his yard and workshop, building and fixing anything mechanical or electrical that interested him, sometimes even doing a little carpentry work for himself or one of his daughters. The doctor was incorrect about the brain tumor. In 2004 the tumor returned, larger and more virulent than before. Frank once again elected to have the surgery to remove the tumor. Because the tumor had regrown, Frank's doctor recommended that Frank have a six week course of radiation therapy to completly kill the tumor. Radiation treatment would be difficult, but Frank was still strong, even at 84 years of age.
Both the surgery and the radiation treatment had weakened Frank, and he knew that he could no longer care for himself or his wife Bert. Bert had been diagnosed some years before with dementia, and she also had difficulty walking because of an arthritic knee that was inoperable. Three of Frank and Bert's daughters lived far away from San Angelo, and the daughter in San Angelo had a full time job. Bert and Frank made the decision to hire full time care givers. These care givers would help Frank and Bert with their daily activities and would be temporary, as Frank was expected to fully recover.
To read an account of what happened to Frank and what his family learned both about Elder Abuse and about those individuals who prey upon the defenseless, click on the following link Confronting Elder Abuse. To read a statement given by the family to the convicted abuser in the Tom Green County Court on March 9, 2006, go to Court Statement. Both of these links will open a new window in your browser. To return to this page, close the new window. Frank was buried on May 16, 2005 in the Calvary Catholic Cemetery in San Angelo, Texas. The words which the family had inscribed on Frank's stone under his name -- "Integrity - Courage - Commitment"-- are words which reflect the character of this remarkable man. The photo, above right, is Frank's burial, including full Military Honors for his service in the United States Navy during the Second World War. Below to the right is a photo of Frank from 1938.
By living through the abuse inflicted upon him, by holding out as long as he did, Frank saved the life of his beloved wife Bert and the lives of many individuals who might have been placed under the care of this brutal woman, a woman whose hateful and deadly activities had escaped detection for almost 20 years. Frank had met the final challenge which Life had given to him, and through his own great courage and determination had persevered. Frank had conquered the evil which had been brought into his own home! Frank Edward Henry (Francesco Iannarino) was born into the "Greatest Generation", a term used to describe that generation of Americans who confronted Fascism and the power of the Nazi and Japanese imperial states and defeated these evil governments and destructive philosophies. The faith, values and self-sacrifice of the "Greatest Generation" gave to our nation and to the world an opportunity to make a better life for all mankind. To all of Frank's family and friends, Frank was not only one of the "Greatest Generation", he was the greatest one of all. |
Even as a young boy Frank had dreams for his life, dreams that grew with him as he matured. As expected in a child, Frank was always eager to learn new things, but his interest in electronics as a young man grew into his life-long work. Frank had the rare combination of intelligence, physical energy and motivation to succeed at his dreams. While each of Provvidenza and Mariano's children lived a good and honest and fulfilling life, Frank had a vision of a far more complicated life. Frank was willing to move far away from his childhood home and take the risks necessary to succeed at his chosen field of Electronics and Electrical Engineering. In the course of his life, Frank moved several times to pursue those dreams, and with each move, Frank experienced new opportunites to learn and to grow.
Frank graduated from Allegheny High School in 1938. Since his family could not afford to pay for his college admission, Frank tried to obtain a commission to the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. Though his grades were adequate for admission, an applicant needed some "political muscle", as Frank described it, to obtain entry into any of the military academies.
When Frank's application to Annapolis was denied, he enrolled in the Keystone Radio School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Frank attended Keystone Radio School from November 1938 until November of 1940. Upon graduation from Keystone, Frank secured a job at a radio station-WGTN-in Wilson, North Carolina. Frank stayed at the station in Wilson, NC from November of 1940 until September of 1941, before transferring to a radio station in Wheeling, West Virginia (WKWK). Frank worked in Wheeling, West Virginia from September of 1941 until December of 1941. In both of these radio stations Frank served as a Broadcast Technician, operating and maintaining broadcast equipment. As the Second World War was beginning, Frank returned to Pittsburgh, working at KQV broadcasting just a few weeks until his volunteer enlistment in the United States Navy was approved.
According to Frank, enlistment into the United States Navy was not an easy task. The applicant had to meet certain physical requirements, including a weight limit which was proportional to an individual's height. Frank was overweight when he tried to enlist in the Navy, weighing in at 204 lbs. When Frank's volunteer enlistment was denied because of his weight, Frank went on a very strict diet, eating mainly asparagus and other vegetables, until his weight fell within the Navy guidelines at 179 lbs.
Within months of his enlistment, Frank was selected to attend a pre-radar school for the US Navy at the University of Houston in Houston, Texas. There were only 100 sailors in the class. Frank recalled in a taped interview in 2003 that the classes were mostly mathematics and electronics fundamentals. He graduated with a 96 average, near the top of his class. Frank was then sent by the Navy to continue his training in radar technology, which was then top-secret, at Corpus Christi, Texas for four months. Frank graduated second in his class on radar technology.
After completing his studies in Corpus Christi, Frank was assigned to Fleet Airwing 5 in Norfolk, Virginia which had bases up and down the Atlantic coast --- Jacksonville, Florida, Beaufort North Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, Norfolk, Virginia, Falmouth, Massachusetts and Quonset Point, Rhode Island. The responsibilty of Frank's unit was anti-sub patrol using PBY's, a World War II vintage seaplane, to locate and destroy the German submarines which patrolled off the American coast. The German submarines were attacking and disrupting shipping to and from Europe during World War II. When Frank's unit was transferred to the South Pacific near the end of the war, Frank worked for a time with the blimps that flew from Moffett Field in San Francisco, California as his unit waited for a ship to transport their planes, equipment and men to the South Pacific assignment. Frank spent the last eight months of the war stationed on Green Island in the Marianas.
During the period of time that Frank was stationed in Charleston, South Carolina, he met and married his wife Bert on June 17, 1944. To read Bert's version of their meeting and eventual wedding and their married lives together, go to 
With the war over and the future ahead of the young couple, Frank began working again at WCAE radio in Pittsburgh. After working for WCAE from the end of October 1945 until September 1952, Frank found a more interesting position at a television station in Pittsburgh--a Dumont television station(WDTV) until purchased by Westinghouse and renamed KDKA television where Frank worked as an electronics technician and camerman and later engineer from September of 1952 until January of 1959.
Frank's engineering position at Westinghouse included the design and development of industrial electronic equipment, high power audio and sonar amplifiers, static power conversion equipment, industrial manufacturing equipment, static regulators and tin fusion systems. In addition, Frank would be able to attend Johns Hopkins University to pursue the degree in Engineering which he had always wanted.
Seven years later in 1963 Frank earned a degree in Electrical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University where he attended the McCoy College at night. Frank graduated "summa cum laude", a high honor, especially for someone who worked full time, took care of the family home and was a husband and a father of 4 growing children. It was a proud moment in Frank's life. Most of Frank's family, all of whom still lived in Pittsburgh, traveled to Baltimore to attend the graduation and celebrate with a picnic at Frank's home in Ellicott City.
In 1969 Frank accepted a position with Motorola Semiconductor Corporation in Phoenix, Arizona. Once again the family moved. One of the daughters, who was married and had a small child, remained behind in Baltimore with her husband. The other three daughters moved to Phoenix with their parents. The eldest daughter accepted a position with Motorola as a computer programmer while a younger daughter continued her nursing education at Arizona State University and the youngest attended high school in Scottsdale. Once they were settled in their new home, Frank enrolled in Arizona State University to continue his education. Frank graduated again with honors, earning a Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering.
Frank's eldest daughter and her husband had moved to Texas in 1975. Frank and Bert visited the eldest daughter and her husband and their grand-daughter and were impressed with the Texas area. Frank interviewed with both the Facilities managers and the Personnel department at the Ed Bluestein facility, Motorola's Central Texas manufacturing plant. He was offered a position in Facilities Engineering. That meant another move for Frank and Bert, selling the home in Phoenix and finding a home in the Central Texas area. Frank and Bert chose to purchase a 5 acre property outside the city limits of Round Rock and had a new home built on the property. They lived in the Central Texas area home for 22 years.
During the 1980's Frank and Bert fulfilled one of Frank's lifelong dreams, traveling to Italy to see the land of his parent's birth. Frank and Bert made two trips to Italy, sightseeing all the major cities, enjoying all the wonderful art and treasures to be found there. Frank and Bert took abundant photographs and captivated their family and friends with their adventures in a foreign land. While visiting in Italy, the couple met and visited a "Iannarino" family still living in his parent's hometown of Termini Imerese in Sicily. It was a real thrill for Frank to visit the places which his parents had known in their youth, walking the same streets, reflecting on the different kind of life his parents had chosen.
Moving to a new town, starting a new life with all the attendant problems would be difficult for anyone, even a couple younger than Frank and Bert. But they "attacked" the problem with their usual vigor. Frank and Bert purchased a lot next door to their daughter and her husband and negotiated with a builder to design and build a new home. The next few months were spent selling their Central Texas home, packing up their furnishings and moving everything, including two huge amateur radio towers, to their new home 200 miles away. With the help of their daughters and their grandson, the couple successfully completed the move. They were ready to begin a new life, as they had done so many times over the 50+ years of their marriage.
Frank and Bert enjoyed the slower pace of life in San Angelo, sharing lunch at their favorite restaurants with their daughter and her husband. Their grandson and his wife and children were frequent visitors to Frank and Bert's home. Most of all, the couple treasured the time they were able to share together, no longer burdened by the work of caring for their large Austin home. Frank and Bert had saved diligently for their retirement and were enjoying their "golden" years.
In 2002 Frank began to have some problems paying the bills and balancing the family checkbook, all those chores that were second nature to him. After seeing a specialist, Frank was diagnosed with a meningioma, a non-malignant brain tumor. Frank traveled back to Austin where he underwent surgery to have the tumor removed. The surgeon had assured Frank that even if the tumor re-grew, the re-growth would be very slow.
Frank's life turned out differently than anyone expected. Of the four care givers whom Frank's daughters had hired, one was an abuser and a murderer. Although the other care givers became aware of the abuser's activities, no one spoke out, prefering to quit their positions rather than risk being the one to expose the abuser's activities. Frank's health deteriorated, as did Bert's. The family and the doctors were surprised by Frank's rapid decline and could not point to any physical cause. The doctors told the family to expect the worst, that Frank's body was failing. There were no obvious signs of abuse, and no one, not even his physicians, suspected a care giver in Frank's home was purposely attempting to murder both Frank and his wife Bert.
A young care giver finally spoke out against the abuser, but she waited several months before telling the authorities what she had witnessed in the couple's home. The abuser was fired immediately from her position and charges of Elder Abuse were brought against her. Frank lived only another week after the abuser's departure, his body exhausted from the long and difficult battle. On May 11, 2005, Frank Edward Henry died, attended by his loving and devoted family and the wife whom he had treasured and protected for 61 years.
The long, productive and eventful life of Frank Edward Henry had come to an end. Frank's cause of death was not what anyone could have imagined, and yet Frank's death was not without great meaning and value.
©2010 Franciene McDonald