Leonard C. Fron, age 84, passed away on May 4, 2019, surrounded by his loving family. He is survived by his cherished wife of 62 years, Laura G. Fron; his children; Luane (Aaron) McWhorter, Leonard G. Fron and Laurence (Duyen) Fron. His also survived by his grandchildren; Whitney (Matt) Cieslinski, Amanda (Mike) Markwald, Ethan McWhorter, Sandra (Justin) Tomei, Nicole McWhorter and Samantha Fron, and his great grandchildren, Sienna Markwald, Kellin Tomei, Adela Markwald and Ember Tomei.
Leonard C. Fron, the youngest of ten children, was born on November 4, 1934 in the area that was then known as “Carbon Works” in the Polish section of the Del Ray neighborhood in Detroit, Michigan. He grew up attending school at St. John Cantius Catholic Church where his parents were parish members. After attending Orchard Lake St. Mary’s High School in Commerce Township, Michigan he went on to Wayne State University in Detroit where he received his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering.
Leonard was a family man, marrying his dear wife Laura (Sobocinski) Fron on May 4, 1957 and attending night school for his college degree while balancing a job at an auto factory and having their three children in the ensuing years. He began his career as a Designer and, after receiving his degree, a Mechanical Engineer in design at the Atomic Power Development Association on the Fermi 1 project. From there he became an Engineer with Detroit Edison where he would remain for thirty years until his retirement. Starting as an Engineer in design on the Fermi 2 project he would progress to become a Supervising Engineer in design and later project engineering for the nuclear plant. He received the prestigious Alex Dow Award from the company and would eventually rise to become a Director in Engineering before his retirement.
Leonard enjoyed spending time with his family fishing on the boat he had for many years, attending sporting events, and taking vacations in northern Michigan (Up North) every summer as well as various road trips when the kids were out of school at Easter time and weekend excursions – the beach, apple picking, sledding etc. He was a prolific reader of novels: both fiction and historical fiction, as well as biographies; he passed an uncountable library of “once read” books on to his children and gave away many others for charitable resale.
Most of all he enjoyed simply spending time with his wife for the sixty-two years they were blessed to be together. They were best friends and partners in all things, often described in such terms as “two peas in a pod” and “bookends”. They moved to St. Petersburg, Florida in 1999 after retirement where they stayed happily together until the past summer when they returned to Michigan to be close to family.
Visitation will be held on Wednesday, May 8, 2019 from 3:00 pm until 9:00 pm at Resurrection Funeral Home, 40800 Hayes Rd., Clinton Township, MI 48038.
A funeral mass will be held on Thursday, May 9, 2019 at 9:30 am with visitation starting at 9:00 am at St. Michael Catholic Church, 40501 Hayes Road, Sterling Heights, MI 48313.
Online condolences and memories may be shared at www.resurrectionfuneralhome.com
