February 26, 1936 – January 19, 2025
at the age of 88 years:

My Dad, Frank, was born in Wolverhampton, England. He is predeceased by his mom, Lydia; his dad, George Frederick; my Mam, Elizabeth Connolly Woodward; and his three brothers, John, Paul, and George. We used to joke that he was the fourth Beatle, Ringo.

Dad leaves behind me (Myhrr), his son-in-law of 45 years, Dave, granddaughter Laura (Rob), granddaughters Coco and Brookie, and grandson Kelly, as well as his best friend, Lionel Smith, whom I call Uncle Lionel.

Dad and Uncle Lionel were joined at the hip, two peas in a pod, and they got into all sorts of trouble together. Both were born during the war and did what they had to do to help their parents survive. They were the terrors of Minehead and Stanley Roads (or so Dad told me). They were Wolverhampton’s version of Zoot Suit Guys, Teddy Boys, and pre-Beatle bad boys.
Dad told me that when he was little, he and Lionel would go along the railroad tracks to pick up coal that fell off the coal trains. They would take some home to their families and sell the rest, giving the money to their moms to help out.

Dad started working in England at age eight. Anyone from the UK will know Roger the Dodger—well, that was my dad and Lionel. Like the “Bash Street” kids, Dad, Lionel, and their other friends Mike Badger and Geoff Palmer used to hang around together, wreaking havoc in a good way.  When Dad was nine, he saved his money and bought a crystal radio set, and there began his lifelong love of everything electronic.  Dad was an electronics engineer. He took electronics at W’ton Polytech and worked for Phillips in W’ton. We moved to Canada in 1967.
Dad worked at Clairtone Electronics in Toronto and Winnipeg. In 1968, he developed a tiny transistor radio, and sold the rights to Clairtone for $500, a vast sum for those days. Clairtone made millions from my dad’s invention. I was blessed enough to have the prototype for many years, until it burned in a house fire in 1986.

Dad was really ahead of his time. I remember in Winnipeg he took me out of school for the day, and we went to a local electronics convention put on by Clairtone. He told me that day, that one day there would be a computer in everyone’s home, that we’d carry phones in our pockets, and we’d be able to order groceries from our fridges.  Dad was a genius when it came to computing. He taught himself calculus and was a pre BASIC coder. He could do anything on a computer, even if it took him hours to learn, he’d code at home in his study at night, and call me in to watch what he did. It took him six hours one night to code something that that made a bell ring.  Through hard work and determination, he rose up from the slums. His family was very poor, they had no money, were almost homeless at times, and he started working at eight years old to help his mom and dad make ends meet. Dad knew the value of the spoken word. He could sell anything to anyone. He’d make a person believe that his product was the best, and the person couldn’t live without it. He had a great gift of the gab.  In 1969, we moved to Coquitlam from Winnipeg. Dad worked as a welding rod salesman because he couldn’t find another job, and he made the biggest sales in Arctec Weldings’ history. He told me and my Mam that he was going to Squamish for the day to make a sale. He made a sale alright, he sold over $2,000 in welding rods to MacMillan Bloedel in one day, and in one month made over $30,000 in sales to other outfits and sawmills. When he left Arctec, he was able to pay cash for his first house and put lots of money in the bank.  In 1970, he became a teacher at Northwest Community College in Terrace, where he taught Electronics with Al Naherny. There, he and Mam made lifelong friends, Harry and Sheila Jackson, Bob and Audrey Smythe, and all his friends at the college.  We moved back to Vancouver in 1973, and he worked at RCA as a development specialist. We moved back to Terrace in 1976, and Dad taught at the college from then until 1984. He retired from teaching and worked as a development specialist at Alcan in Kemano. Dad loved working at Alcan. He met his other lifelong friend, Bob Schwarzfirm.  In 1979, he welcomed my hubby Dave into the family, and in 1982, he welcomed our daughter Laura into the family. Both Laura and his great granddaughters, Coco and Brookie inherited his love of computers. Dad said that he’d never seen kids that could work on computers like Coco and Brooke. When I told him that the kids were learning to code and make their own games from scratch, Dad said of course they are, they take after me, don’t they.

In 1985, Dad married Johanna, and they were married until 2014. My stepsister Cindy had a son in April 1990, named Kelly, whom dad considered a grandson.

My dad had a beautiful voice, he played guitar, and the trump trombone. Dad could fart better than anyone I knew. He had an amazing farting repertoire and could play God save the King/Queen, Oh Canada, We’ll Meet Again, Twist and Shout.  He was the toot of the town in his youth, and his nickname was Flamin’ A** Frank. He was W’ton’s own Le Petomane and could have rivaled Mr Methane had he pursued a career as a flatulist. He could imitate the sounds of a tommy gun, a rocket launcher and other instruments of power.

My dad had a wonderful sense of humor and was a born comedian.

You will be missed.