Frank J. Feeley ~ 1917 - 2010

Frank J. Feeley died Sunday June 13, 2010, at the age of 92. He was a resident of San Diego since 1957, was predeceased by his wife of 60 years, Elsie, in 2001, and is survived by four children: Kathie Riesgo (Roy), Marilyn Orndoff, Michael Feeley (Cathie Larrick), and Patricia Addesso (Ken). He also leaves four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Frank was born in 1917, in a homesteader’s cabin in Sanders, Montana. His parents, George A. and Kate Feeley, were shareholders of the original “Sanders Club”. Kate had originally come to Montana to teach school and to join her sister, Mayme McCormick, a pioneer Hysham resident.

Frank was the middle of 5 children. George V., the eldest, took over the family farm with his bride, Marcella Deveny, and their 7 children, before moving to Billings in the 1960s. James Robert, the second son, also lived in Billings for many years with his wife, Jessie Williams and their 10 children. Lawrence, the 4th son, of Seattle, was married to Elizabeth Skipper and had 2 sons. Mary, the youngest child, married Joseph Ponessa, had 3 children, farmed in Big Horn her whole life and still lives in Hardin.

Although Frank grew up with no electricity or running water, and with horseback as the major means of transportation, he did not consider those to be handicaps. That self-sufficient family farm allowed them to weather the Great Depression much better than many others, as he was fond of remarking. He was a bright young man with a very high IQ, and he graduated from Hysham High School at age 16 with offers of scholarships to college, but there was no way farm living generated the necessary cash for train fare, clothes, books, etc. So he joined the Marine Corps in November of 1935, when he turned 18. When asked once “Why the Marines?”, he said “I had seen them in a couple of movies…they were always the heroes. You can’t beat that…”

When he got on the bus it was 40 below, (another of his favorite stories), and when he got off the bus in San Diego, at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, he noticed the weather had improved considerably (gone up about 100 degrees to a balmy 60 degrees). He filed that information away for future reference; putting it to good use when he his final duty station took him back to San Diego in 1957, and he decided to retire there. 

In the meantime, after 3 years of service in pre-WWII China as a young recruit, he returned to Sanders in early 1941 and married the “girl next door”, Elsie Miller. He was stationed in Portland, Oregon on recruiting duty in December of 1941 when almost simultaneously came the birth of his first child, the attack on Pearl Harbor, and his feeling that he should get himself transferred back to a fighting unit. He spent the next several years in the Pacific with the 4th Marine Division, seeing combat in the Marshall Islands, Saipan, Tinian and Iwo Jima. He was on Maui, undergoing training for the impending invasion of Japan, when the Japanese surrender was announced and the end of the war declared.

He was a career Marine, spending time in Washington DC, standing guard on the Capitol steps in 1949 when Truman was inaugurated, and soon after going to Korea to fight yet another war. By then his family has grown to three children. And after Korea they were joined by a fourth child, he retired from the Marine Corps, they moved to San Diego, and he took up his final career as an officer in the probation department.

He and Elsie were fortunate enough to enjoy a long and healthy retirement. They crossed the country several times in RV travel; mostly back to Montana to visit relatives, but also to 4th Marine Division reunions, once as far away as Miami. He was fond of cooking and baking, and had a receptive audience for his culinary experiments in his family. He enjoyed family gatherings most of all, and took a great deal of pride in his children, and his grandchildren (Dan Riesgo, Dayna Riesgo, Erin Maxick, and Brooke Lahr). We will make sure that his great-grandchildren know his stories and that his legacy will live on (Charlotte and Declan Riesgo, and Noah Lahr). He was “Grandpa” to a few dogs as well, especially Willie, who brought cheer to his last year of life.

The family suggests that if memorials in his name wish to be given, he would have appreciated donations to either of the following two organizations:
Sanders Community Hall Foundation: 388 Old Highway 10, Sanders Montana 59076
www.woundedwarriorproject.org Print this post