Frank Russell Dunne, age 85, of Cape Coral, passed away peacefully on April 13, 2018. Frank, the son of Edward M. Dunne and Rachel Coursen Dunne, was born in 1933 in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania. His paternal grandparents emigrated from Ireland to rural New York State in the 1860s, and his mother's family had a long history in this country. Frank grew up in Kingston, Pennsylvania, and spent his summers at nearby Bear Creek. In 1950, he graduated from Wyoming Seminary Preparatory School where he was a varsity wrestler and president of his senior class. He earned his bachelor's degree from Lehigh University. At Lehigh, he majored in business, wrestled on intramural teams and served as president of his fraternity, Delta Tau Delta. During Frank's summer vacations from college he worked on a coal barge on Lake Erie and chopped down trees in the Alaskan wilderness while living in a tent, working as part of a U.S. Geological Survey team.
After graduating from Lehigh in 1954, Frank entered the U.S. Naval Flight Training Program. In September 1955 he married Jeanne Stenach of Plymouth, Pennsylvania. Over the next several years, Frank and Jeanne lived in Corpus Christi, Texas and in Jacksonville, Pensacola and Sanford Florida while Frank piloted a variety of Navy aircraft, including the F9 "Cougar", the A4 "Skyhawk", the T2J "Buckeye", and the RA-5C "Vigilante." He accumulated over 3700 hours of flight time and 460 carrier landings on the USS Essex, Roosevelt, Saratoga and America. In 1956 Frank and Jeanne had one daughter, Katherine Anne. In 1968, Frank ceased active duty in the Navy and began working for Eastern Airlines in the Washington, D.C. area. He started out with Eastern as a second officer on the Lockheed Electra, and as his seniority increased, he became a Boeing 727 first officer (co-pilot). He continued to serve our country as a Naval Reserve officer, flying the F-8 "Crusader" and commanding a Naval Reserve Fighter Squadron at Andrews Airforce Base. He retired from the Naval Reserves in the 1970s.
Frank's first wife, Jeanne, passed away in February 1983. In September 1986, shortly after retiring from Eastern Airlines, Frank married Kathleen Salko. In short order, the couple moved from Alexandria, Virginia to their newly built home in Cape Coral, Florida. There Frank continued to pursue his passion for welding, and he reengaged in his old pastimes from Pensacola days, boating and fishing. Frank kept his trawler, the Destiny, at a dock outside his house, and he and Kathleen sailed the Destiny on short fishing trips on the Gulf of Mexico, longer trips to the Dry Tortugas and the Bahamas, and up the Intracoastal Waterway to Virginia.
During his life Frank had a special affinity with dogs in general and with his own dogs in particular, beginning with his father's beagles that were kept for hunting. Over his lifetime, Frank owned and loved basset hounds, dachshunds, a basset-dachshund rescue, and three labrador retrievers.
Frank suffered a stroke in November 2016 and after that lived in The Windsor of Cape Coral. He was predeceased by his brother Russell Leo Dunne, and is survived by his wife of 31 years, Kathleen, his daughter Katherine (husband Dennis Moss) of Haddonfield, New Jersey, his stepson Marc Salko (wife Diana) of Leesburg, Virginia, step granddaughters Chelsea and Helen Salko, and nieces and nephews.
A Memorial Mass will be held at St. Katharine Drexel Church in Cape Coral, Florida on Friday, May 11, 2018 at 10:30 am. Inurnment with Military Honors rendered by the U.S. Navy will follow at Coral Ridge Cemetery in Cape Coral.
