Marie Joan Frank was born Marie Joan Hazen on Oct. 4, 1933 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. She died Feb. 1, 2014 in Coupeville, Wash. after a long period of poor health.
A 1956 graduate of The Edmonton General Hospital School of Nursing in Edmonton, Alberta, Marie began a career as a Registered Nurse in Sedro Woolley, Wash. Later, while on vacation in Europe, traveling with her father, she decided to stay abroad and became a governess in Paris, working first for a French family then for a world famous American concert solo violinist, caring for the family children and touring Europe with them.
Returning to the United States, she remained with the family for several years in New York City. St. Vincent’s Hospital in Greenwich Village was Marie’s next nursing job until she moved to Florida in 1971.
While in New York, Marie developed an interest in aviation which she never lost. After learning to fly, she earned a commercial pilot’s license in 1969 at Teterboro, N.J.; she then added an instrument rating in 1972 after moving to Florida.
It was while flying out of the little country airport at Leesburg, Florida while working toward her instrument qualification that she met and married her husband, Benjamin “Wes” Frank Jr., who worked at the flight center there and was also a pilot.
Marie was a member of the Grasshoppers Women’s Pilot Club of Florida and also The Ninety-Nines, a national women’s pilot club of which Amelia Earhart had been a founding member. Marie flew to many club events all over Florida, finding it interesting, adventuresome, and a great way to log flight hours and see the many sights in that state.
Marie and Wes flew many memorable flights together, and continued this interest after moving to Oak Harbor, Washington in 1973. Wes reentered the Navy and received orders to the Whidbey Island Naval Air Station.
They were both members of the Whidbey Island Navy Flying Club. Marie worked as an RN at Whidbey General Hospital in Coupeville.
Enjoying the Northwest experience and being close to relatives in British Columbia and northwest Washington, she was able to re-establish and maintain connections with her extended family members, aunts, uncles and cousins.
Recreational flying was placed on hold when they moved to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba in 1978. “Gitmo” became one of Marie’s favourite duty stations, because in 1978 it was a real Navy base, complete with ships and airplanes, and was “small town U.S.A.” with a great family atmosphere.
Nursing at the base hospital was not possible because of her Canadian status, but she found meaningful related employment at the base’s milk plant as quality tester, growing cultures in the laboratory. An active R&R program in Gitmo allowed Marie and Wes off-duty travel to many locations throughout the Caribbean including Jamaica, Grand Cayman and Haiti. After returning to the U.S., Wes’s assignment was the South Weymouth Naval Air Station, located between Boston and Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Marie became a member of the South Shore Registered Nurses Association and was employed as a private duty nurse, a job which gave her many interesting and rewarding experiences.
Marie’s next great adventure occurred when Wes, by then retired from active Naval service and employed as a Navy civilian, was transferred to Cornwall, England. She quickly settled into British life and three and a half years there were filled with discovery and great satisfaction. She participated in very rewarding volunteer work with Age Concern, an organization dedicated to improving the lives of the elderly.
But all too soon, as with most overseas assignments, it was over and a return to the U.S. was necessary; however, this time the disappointment was eased by the fact that they had been transferred back to Whidbey Island, Wash.
It was a great homecoming, but after a couple of years, again duty called, and the couple found themselves transferred back to the east coast, with Portsmouth, Virginia and Odenton, Maryland becoming home for the last ten years before Wes’s retirement from government service.
Finally retired, they moved back to Whidbey Island in 2010, where they lived and enjoyed all of the beauty and advantages of life in the great Pacific Northwest. Marie is survived by her husband of forty-one years, numerous cousins, nieces, and nephews in Washington, British Columbia and other parts of Canada, and by many good friends.
She was always a proud and patriotic Canadian, tracing her ancestry to Sir Charles Tupper, one of the Canadian “Fathers of Confederation.” She was a member of St. Augustine’s Catholic Church in Oak Harbor, Washington. She was preceded in death by her father Charles Tupper Hazen, her mother Jean Mary (Lequiea) Hazen and her brother Douglas Lorne Hazen, all of Canada. Funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Friday, Feb. 7, 2014 at St. Augustine Catholic Church in Oak Harbor with Rev. Paul Pluth officiating. Viewing will be held 6-8 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 6 at Wallin Funeral Home and also 9-10 a.m. at the church. A reception will follow in the Parish Hall. Arrangements entrusted to Wallin Funeral Home & Cremation, Oak Harbor.
