1922 – 2021
Frank Bartlett passed away on April 15, 2021 at his home in Raleigh, North Carolina. He was 98 years old. Born April 23, 1922 in Portage, Maine to Frank Weatherby Bartlett and Nora Alcy Hartford, he was the third of five children. Gifted both intellectually and athletically, he exhibited the attributes of his Mayflower colonial ancestors: hard work, persistence, patriotism, reverence for education, and for “doing it yourself.”
Frank grew up in a small town in rural Maine with no electricity, where the winters were so brutal that the snow could be eight feet deep. His youngest sister describes him as “a good brother” who “would walk in front of me during blisteringly windy cold walks home from school to shield me from the wind.” He lettered in four sports in high school: football, basketball, baseball and track, and aspired to be an athlete.
After graduation from high school, he answered his country’s call and joined the Maine National Guard in 1940. Inducted into the US Army in 1941, his training included Field Artillery Officer Candidate School and Second Army Ranger School, after which he was assigned to Battery A 938th Field Artillery Battalion. He served as battery executive of a squad of Split Trail 155 Howitzers in the US, and in the WWII European Campaign in Africa and in Italy. During the Battle of Anzio, while serving as a 2nd Lieutenant Executive Officer with the First Armored Division, he was severely wounded by multiple shell fragments from a German tank-mounted 88 gun. Awarded a Purple Heart, he credits the exceptional skill and courage of the nurses and doctors of the Anzio beachhead Field Hospital, and the providers at the 15th Evac and the 23rd General Hospitals in Naples, and the new “miracle drug” penicillin, for his survival. After a lengthy recovery and limited duty with FARTC at Ft. Bragg, NC, he was discharged from the military in 1946.
It was while he was assigned to Ft Bragg that he met his first wife, Alice Angelia Liles, who was a volunteer nursing assistant at the Army rehabilitation facility where he was receiving treatment. Married in 1945, they moved to Bangor, Maine where Frank completed college, earning a Master’s Degree in Business Education. Subsequently he served as a Business Education teacher, a department head, and a school principal in Maine and Long Island, New York. They spent many busy years building Frank’s career, raising five daughters, cultivating and preserving the produce from a huge garden, and volunteering in many civic activities. Frank and Angelia later divorced.
Frank married Evelyn Gertrude Bell in May 1966 and they became the parents of a son, Brooks Bartlett. After Frank and Evelyn’s retirements from education, they moved to Maine, to Georgia, to South Carolina, to Florida and to North Carolina. During these years they they built, by themselves, first a boathouse and then a cabin on a lake in Maine and then cleared the land for their new house in Lincolnville, Maine. Every spring they slowly traveled up the East coast, scheduling their travel to correspond with Brooks’ school schedule. They enjoyed stopping to visit friends and Evelyn’s family and enjoying the ocean along the way. They would spend summers in Maine and return to Florida in the fall. Evelyn died in January of 2012.
Frank was married to Doris Pope from 2015 to 2021.
Frank is preceded in death by his parents, Frank and Nora; two brothers, Kenneth (Elsie), and Stanley (Adrienne); one sister, Lillian Junkins (Keith); a niece, Barbie Bass; two nephews, Bruce Bartlett and Jeff Junkins; one daughter, Karen Joy Bartlett; and two grandchildren, Justin Smith and Hilary Smith.
Frank is survived by a sister, Avis Bass (Joseph); four daughters, Sandra Smith (Clayton), Donna Bartlett, Cheryl Donahue Harrell (Scott), Chrystal Bartlett (Greg), a son, Brooks Bartlett (Kay); and several nieces and nephews, Bob Bartlett (Linda), Dick Bartlett (Suzanne), Mike Bartlett (Sandra), Jerry Junkins (Sunni), Dennis Bartlett (Patty), Dawn King (Bill), Shirley Bartlett, David Bartlett (Barbara), Carleton Bass, and Nancy Benson; six grandchildren, Heather Kipple (Chris), Ethan Smith (Lori), Kaitlyn Donahue, Matthew Freeland (Destiny), Shannon Freeland (Steve), and Scott Harrell; and by eight great grandchildren.
Frank would like to be remembered as a teacher who took the trouble to get to know his students and what they liked. He said, “I really liked teaching”. He was a very humble military veteran. Frank was an adept builder and gardener. He loved the woods and nature, flowers, lakes and exploring the Atlantic coastline. He was very generous with people in need and donated to many charitable organizations.
The family would like to offer a special Thank You to Kani Touray of Carolina Consultancy, LLC and his devoted caregivers for their kindness, caring and compassionate service during Frank’s final days.
In leiu of floral tributes, please feel free to donate to a charity of your choosing.
Funeral Directors: McLaurin Funeral Home, Clayton, North Carolina.
Because of Covid restrictions memorial services will be strictly limited to Frank’s children, current residents of Independence Village and staff, and Frank’s medical providers and care giving team.
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