Frank O. Webster

Born in Columbus, OH, the son of Earl and Grace Webster, Frank was raised on a farm in Mechanicsburg with 2 sisters and 1 brother. After graduating in 1943 from high school, he attended Clemson University in S.C. for one year before entering the military as a Navy recruit. Following basic training, he was sent to Hawaii for 2 ½ years as a medic. He returned to the States, attended Urbana Jr. College and started at Wittenberg in the fall of 1947 as a junior. He graduated in 1949, then went to OSU where he got his Master's degree.

He met his wife, Marcy, during freshman week in 1947, where they danced the entire evening and then became a couple. When he went to OSU, she also transferred. They were both still in college when they married in the Spring of 1950. He was finishing his Masters' program and she was in her junior year of Elementary Education.

He started working as a teacher with Columbus City Schools in January 1951. He taught Biology, Speech and Driver's Education at Linden McKinley High School and was there for 16 years until Brookhaven opened in 1966. While at Brookhaven, along with teaching, he announced the football games, assisted with or directed the fall plays, ran the Outdoor Education Program, which included the construction of a 3 acre "mini" park. He started a program called, "Fun Without Destruction", which he took to many of the area elementary schools shortly before Halloween each year. In 1968, with an "honors" class, he guided his class in a surgical procedure of doing a "frog heart transplant" during class time. His "honors" students did all the research as they were preparing to do this. This coincided with the human heart transplant which had taken place in Texas earlier. It made International news. We had a brother-in-law in the Air Force, stationed in Germany, and he read about it in the German newspaper that same date late afternoon.

Frank always loved power tools and construction and always said he planned to build his own house. Frank and his wife bought a wooded lot, on a lake, in Minerva Park in 1952. We found a Better Homes and Gardens house plan, which we both loved ……. but it would not quite fit our lot. We found a young architect at OSU, whom we hired, to redesign the house to fit the lot. Finally, in 1954, Frank was ready to start digging the basement. Since he was already teaching, he had the summer to put in the basement. He had the basement dug and then laid all the cement blocks in the basement walls. He worked on plumbing and electricity in the basement in his after-school hours and on evenings when he did not have any school activities that he had to go back to.

During the 2nd summer, he hired a helper. They framed the house, called roofers to put on a roof, and he watched the stone masons lay the floor to ceiling 8 ft. long stone fireplace in the center of the 30 ft. living room. He learned to cut stone, did the stone fireplace in the rec room in the basement, all exterior stone walls and all indoor stone walls. Frank worked on plumbing, electricity, paneling, ceilings and flooring during the school year. Although very unfinished, Frank moved his wife, a little boy, now 1 ½ and himself into the house in May of 1956. The kitchen had counters but no cabinets or drawers for 4 more years.

Woodworking was quite a hobby for him. He made 9 wooden rocking horses for the grandchildren, he built lamps, make wood frames for ceramic tiles for trivets for hot foods and numerous other woodcraft items.

It was the summer of 1956 that he became the manager of Linden Beach Swim Club. He already had managed an ice rink on the same property for 2 years before the swimming pool was built. The following summer he acquired Berwick Beach, the next year Springfield Olympic….all owned and built by the same owner. He managed pools for 18 years.

He leaves behind his wife, Marcy, and his 3 children: Doug (Terry), Kent (Kate) and Jill (Time) Kumler; grandchildren, Nicole (Nate) Frank, Amanda Martin, Matt (Bridget), Carrie (Bryan) Karkoska, Colleen McCambridge, John (Jenna), Kenny (Anna), Bryn Webster and Will Blount, Tess Webster and Brad; and ten great-grandchildren, ages 1 to 14.

A memorial service will be held at 11:00am on November 16, 2019 at Ascension Lutheran Church, 1479 Morse Road, Columbus, OH 43229. There will be an hour of visitation prior to the service, Pastor Tim Muller will be officiating. There will be a luncheon following the service.