Francis "Frank" Leon Tansky III

Frank was preceded in death by his father, Francis Leon Tansky Jr. and his stepfather, James Warren Thomas Jr. Survivors include his loving wife of over 22 years, Klara Tansky; his mother, Doris J. Thomas and her husband, John; his mother and father-in-law Radmila Brouckova and Stanislav Broucek; his sisters, Kim Avolis (Kevin), Karen Avolis (Joe), Krissy Vick (Dee), and Jeannie Elbing (PJ); his brother James Thomas III; sisters-in-law Sara Thomas and Radmila Belinova; nieces and nephews, Kari Loeber (Nick), Megan Illing (Zach), Ben Avolis (Nicole), Jill Cumbo (Nick), Sam Avolis (Rachel), Spencer Avolis, Ellie Vick, Sallie Vick, Ran Vick, Everleigh Elbing, Barrett Elbing, Rhodes Elbing, Raleigh Thomas, Jay Thomas, and Jaromir Belina; his adoptive daughters Sasa Andrlova, Chloe Michaud, Ellie Michaud ; his beloved fur babies, Breck and Banx; and many loving family, friends and colleagues.

Frank loved his family and made traveling the long distances to see them a priority. Whether in Chesapeake, New Bern, Harker’s Island, Hampden-Sydney, or North Myrtle Beach, Frank never wanted to miss a family gathering. Most recently, he and his wife traveled to North Carolina for Christmas. 32 family members were present, and they are all especially grateful to have had that special time with him.

Frank was always up for any adventure, big and small. His infectious, let’s have fun attitude, together with his kind and caring heart, made him friends wherever he went in his life. From Great Bridge High School to Pfeiffer College to the many different jobs he held over the years, he developed lasting relationships with countless friends and colleagues from different backgrounds and cultures. The gatherings sometimes resembled the United Nations General Assembly!

As one friend said, “Once Frank was your friend, he was always your friend.” He had an unbridled enthusiasm for life that was contagious. With Frank, you never sat around—you had to do stuff! He would enthusiastically support a plan, even if it was terrible. This led to countless misadventures like impromptu road trips, unsafe handling of fireworks, and crashing private parties. Frank was not only a fun friend, he was always there to help if you needed him. He would help you move, fix a car, tile a pantry, or scrape glued down carpet at your grandmother’s house. A legendary story has circulated for decades about Frank helping to fix a massive sewer leak in the crawl space under a friend’s cottage, even though he was gagging the whole time!

Frank was a hard worker. Whether he was remodeling houses or selling bricks (where he earned a new nickname, Frankie Bricks), his bosses and coworkers loved him. He was always willing to show up early or stay late to cover a shift and do whatever was necessary. One off-season, Frank helped his friend refinish the dance floor at a night club, even though he did not work there. The owner was so impressed with Frank’s work ethic, he gave him some shifts at one of the smaller bars upstairs in the night club, where Frank promptly broke the sales record. The upstairs bar always ran out of glassware, but Frank would improvise and make the customers lean over the bar and just mix the drinks in their mouths!

Frank’s interests, passions, and skills were as diverse as his friends. He loved the outdoors. The Rocky Mountains of Colorado and the Outer Banks of North Carolina were the two places he lived that had a very special place in his heart. He loved the beauty and entertainment that the nature had to offer, especially camping in the wilderness. Frank was a gifted athlete that could effortlessly pick up any sport: lacrosse, climbing, surfing, snowboarding were his favorite.

Frank was also a talented woodworker, incredibly handy, and could easily figure out how things worked. Building a shopping mall with a pocket knife was no sweat for him. The only limitation to his creativity was space in the garage for his tools. Frank had everything for everything in multiples! He took a great pleasure in remodeling his homes: moving walls, adding ceiling beams, installing floors, and building custom shelves, furniture and countertops.

Frank’s analytical mind needed many other outlets. He was very proud of his online gamer achievements, beating other players from around the world. He was fascinated by the universe and quantum mechanics, which he relentlessly tried to educate his wife and Facebook friends about—the former with no success.

When his mind was not pondering the big stuff or fixing something around the house, he cooked. The dinners at the Tansky Tavern were legendary. Friends would cancel their plans to come enjoy Frank’s cooking: Carolina-style barbecue, chili, gazpacho, shrimp scampi, fish with white wine beurre blanc sauce—the Pavlovian conditioning worked every time! The crowning culinary achievement he was most proud of was that he got his wife to stop drinking pink sweet wine and start eating steak cooked medium rare. Over the years, Tansky Tavern has welcomed for a meal or extended stay many family members, friends, and what Frank called ‘strays’ that often turned into dear friends.

Another passion of Frank’s was music. He taught himself to play guitar and appreciated any talented artist regardless of genre. Country, rap, folk, metal, pop, rock—he listened to it all. Just like with food, he expanded his wife’s musical horizons, even against her will; Frank caught her once tapping her foot to a country song!

Frank loved anything new and different. Change and the unknown did not scare him. It excited him. He embraced this side of him whole-heartedly when he sold almost everything he owned, purchased a beaten up Honda Civic for $500 to go on a cross-country trip with a girl he barely knew and then chased after her to Europe. That started the biggest adventure of his life that lasted over 23 years full of love, travel, and new experiences.

Francis, Frank, František, Franta, Tansker, Crazy Frank, Frankie Bricks, Frank the Tank, Tank Fransky, moje motylicka—we miss you.

Frank's friends will celebrate his life from 4-7 pm, Friday, May 13, 2022 at 1123 Karens Way, Corolla, NC. All friends with a good Frank story to share are welcome. We will have fun together swapping goofy Frank stories, which would make him so happy. Please do not wear black.

Do you have a favorite Frank memory to share? Create a short video (max 3 minutes) stating your name, how you knew Frank, and a single specific memory of what you did together. Please submit by no later then April 24 by emailing [email protected] (inbox is monitored and you'll receive a confirmation of receipt within 48 hours).