Adored grandfather, beloved dad and loving husband, Russell Joseph Francisco passed away unexpectedly on Aug. 5, 2009. He is survived by his wife of 47 years, Marge; son, Mark (wife Laraine); daughter, Nancy Francisco-Welke (husband John); son David (wife Anita);, grandchildren, Conor, Ali, Cayla, Noah, and Benjamin, and twin brother, Roger.
Russell deeply touched the lives of many people, including extended family, neighbors, colleagues and friends around the world. He was a small business owner for 35 years before starting a teaching career at Seton Hall University. He retired as captain of the Scotch Plains volunteer fire department and was an active supporter of several philanthropic organizations. Russell was an avid gardener, cyclist, hiker, amateur naturalist and a great lover of Florida's nature.
Russell lived life to the absolute fullest and while he left it too early, he left it doing something he enjoyed, at a place he loved, surrounded by people who adored him.
A time to visit and funeral ceremony will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 8, 2009 at Church of the Ascension in Bradley Beach, (service is at 11 a.m.). In lieu of flowers, gifts in Russell's name may be made to The Conservancy of Southwest Florida (http://www.conservancy.org/).
Link to the Aug 7th obituary
In memory of Russell J. Francisco
Adored grandfather, beloved dad and loving husband, Russell Joseph Francisco passed away unexpectedly on Aug. 5, 2009. He is survived by his wife of 47 years, Marge; son, Mark (wife Laraine); daughter, Nancy Francisco-Welke (husband John); son David (wife Anita);, grandchildren, Conor, Ali, Cayla, Noah, and Benjamin, and twin brother, Roger.
Russell deeply touched the lives of many people, including extended family, neighbors, colleagues and friends around the world. He was a small business owner for 35 years before starting a teaching career at Seton Hall University. He retired as captain of the Scotch Plains volunteer fire department and was an active supporter of several philanthropic organizations. Russell was an avid gardener, cyclist, hiker, amateur naturalist and a great lover of Florida's nature.
Russell lived life to the absolute fullest and while he left it too early, he left it doing something he enjoyed, at a place he loved, surrounded by people who adored him.
His funeral ceremony was held at on Aug. 8, 2009 at Church of the Ascension in Bradley Beach. Gifts in Russell's name may still be made to The Conservancy of Southwest Florida (http://www.conservancy.org/).
Link to the Aug 7th obituary
Russell deeply touched the lives of many people, including extended family, neighbors, colleagues and friends around the world. He was a small business owner for 35 years before starting a teaching career at Seton Hall University. He retired as captain of the Scotch Plains volunteer fire department and was an active supporter of several philanthropic organizations. Russell was an avid gardener, cyclist, hiker, amateur naturalist and a great lover of Florida's nature.
Russell lived life to the absolute fullest and while he left it too early, he left it doing something he enjoyed, at a place he loved, surrounded by people who adored him.
His funeral ceremony was held at on Aug. 8, 2009 at Church of the Ascension in Bradley Beach. Gifts in Russell's name may still be made to The Conservancy of Southwest Florida (http://www.conservancy.org/).
Link to the Aug 7th obituary
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
9 comments:
Please post your comments here. Thanks.
Dad grew everything imaginable in the garden:
* cotton
* tobacco
* corn
* tomatoes
* green and yellow beans
* sugar snaps
* lettuce
* broccoli
* brussel sprouts
* zucchini
* squash
* blackberries, raspberries, blueberries and strawberries
* asparagus
* grapes
* pawpaw
* giant hibiscus
* lupines and other wildflowers
* carrots
* beasts
* and probably tons of other things I can't remember
/David
When John and I got married, my dad grew all the flowers for the centerpieces at my wedding - they were so beautiful. We also shared a love of sun-flowers, everytime I see a sunflower I will think of him. Nancy
"Unforgettable......that's what you are...." I don't even know where to start when talking about memories......so many.... All I can say now is that as soon as "going to Scotch Plains" was mentioned in this house, it was imediately always met with instant motion, people dashing to get out to the car and down to Chapel Road and into another Francisco adventure in frenetic fun!! From all the fun-filled birthday parties, Nancy is home parties, garden parties, impromptu dinners (usually not done til after 9)one could expect to be involved in garden tours, eating fresh produce off the plant, pick-up softball games in the field, sled rides down the back hill (weather permitting) chariot races in the garden wagon, splash fights and dunkings in the kiddie pool (that would be the adults....not the kids), someone falling in the fish pond, walks around the neighborhood, good food and great times with the best friends ever. We were made to feel part of the family and loved always....which we needed desperately as we lost our parents during the years that passed. We love him and all of you, that will never change. He will always be with us - he is truly unforgettable.
Love to you all, Marianne and the M gang
In 1998ish, the Frans came over to our house (next door, the Lees) for Thanksgiving dinner. This was by no means Buckingham Palace, just to set the scene. It was a rather low-brow affair. Mr. Fran shrewdly notices the giant turkey leg that no one seems to care about, and after 10 minutes of staring at it politely, announces his intentions to claim the prize. For sheer entertainment value, he takes it like Fred Flintstone, and begins to dip it into the gravy bowl. He was in heaven. I can still remember the sky-high enjoyment plastered all over his face. And to make the whole scene everlastingly funny, I can still hear Mrs. Fran saying "Russell!" No lie, that turkey leg had to weigh 5 pounds.
Dad was always my "friend at the ready" for any kind of adventure. In the years of our adult friendship we have enjoyed long bicycle rides, hikes, boat rides, countless trips to the shore, every type of festival imaginable, music, fireworks, trips to NYC, Philadelphia and Washington DC, not to mention camping and RVing. Of course their is the fall ritual to find the brightest leaf colors on the eastern seaboard. I can't imagine having spent life differently...and will miss these times dearly.
To My Uncle Russell,
I don’t know were to began
He accepted me seen the day I was adopted
Hes always been there for me and repected me
I started getting much closer to her
He let me live and work for center tv as a tech
I joined the Scoth Plain Fire ,Just after he retired before I join
He help me get and would tell my fire storys , which we had in common
He thought me about life and so many more thing, I’ll never forget that
Uncle Russ and I did a lot travaling to wisconson,maine,florida naples of couse
I loved travaling with him. I will miss that. But he was great guy
Even when he took me for a hike that he said 20min. And ya turn into an 1hour hike
But its all good, I love going place with, and just sitting at the rv somking cigurs and on our lapotops
Heres will aways be remembered and never forgot
Robert
While I only had the pleasure of spending time with Russ on a handful of occasions, I felt like I grew up with him because of all the stories Nancy told about her father. He always seemed like a "guy" I would like to hang out with, be around. Many people in this world take energy from you, but Russ seemed to give energy to people. When he was in a room you wanted to be near him.
The most recent memory I have of Russ is from this past May. My wife was battling cancer, so a number of friends asked how they could help. We have a newer house and I wanted to finish the landscaping. We planned a "landscaping party" and around 20 people showed up at my house. Russ was in town visiting Nancy and her family over the weekend of the landscaping party. Instead of staying at Nancy's house Russ came over to help with our landscaping project. Here is a guy who is in town visiting, on vacation, 69 years old, and he is at my house helping shovel 18 tons of rock!
I know Russ will be missed by a lot of people, but I feel lucky that I still get to hear the stories from Nancy.
How do you distill the experiences of more than 50 years of knowing someone into few enough words to fit into a blog entry? A daunting idea, at best. I’ll choose only a little of what I know about Russ.
Russell was always willing to live life at its fullest, always striving to learn something new, to explore new things and ideas, and at his happiest when he was able to teach those to others. His patience as a teacher was an interesting counterpoint to the impatience he showed in other areas of life. Sometimes it seemed as if Russ couldn’t catch up with himself!
But it was teaching that brought out the very best in Russell. Whether he was at his shop showing young workers how to do something, or at the vocational school teaching young people the skills needed in radio and TV repair, the firehouse as a training officer, teaching the important thing to his children and grandchildren, or at the Hall showing students and teachers how to use their computers more effectively, he loved teaching. And was very good at it.
His passion for teaching and life in general was a wonder to watch. Not that Russ was perfect. No, at times he was the most exasperating person I knew. But it was impossible to remain exasperated at Russ. His heart shone through even his nuttiness.
I will miss everything about Russ, the good and the less than stellar. But most of all, I think, I’ll miss those philosophical discussions we would have at holidays and get togethers. Like the last time we were together, at Scott’s graduation party this past June, when he wanted to know if I ever thought about what our lives would have been like if we had made other choices. We talked for a little while and he said, “But then I wouldn’t have Margie and my family, and I would hate that.”
And that sums up Russell.
Post a Comment