Donald Frantz

Donald E. Frantz died on March 15 at Grace Village in Winona Lake. He was 92. He co-owned and operated Frantz Lumber Co. in North Manchester for more than 40 years until his retirement in 1987. Since then, he divided his time between Tippecanoe Lake and Deltona. He only recently moved to Grace Village. He was born on Nov. 16, 1925, to Oakley Paul and Marie Aileen (Pottenger) in North Manchester. He graduated from Chester High School and Purdue University and served as a radar operator in the Army Air Corps during World War II. He married Jo Joyce “Jody” Urschel on January 31, 1948, at Zion Lutheran Church in North Manchester. They had been married for 58 years when she died in April 2006. He was a member of the first consolidated Manchester Community School Board and a trustee of the Peabody Home Foundation as well as other organizations. He was a lifelong member of Rotary International and the American Legion. Last fall, he joined other WW II veterans from Indiana on an “honor flight” to Washington, D.C. An avid golfer, he was a member of Tippecanoe Lake Country Club in Leesburg for more than half a century. On his 92nd birthday in November, he sank a 110-foot birdie put on the first hole of Deltona Golf Club and shot an 88. It was the 64th time he had shot his age or better. Frantz is survived by three sons, Doug of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Joe of North Manchester, and Thom of Clinton. He is also survived by seven grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren as well as a sister, Nancy Nicholson of Spearman, Texas. He was preceded in death by a sister, JoAnne Hurley, and brother, Richard G. Frantz. A memorial service will be scheduled later. McHatton-Sadler Funeral Chapel, Warsaw is entrusted with arrangements. Memorial contributions may be made to: Wabash County United Fund P.O. Box #2 W. Market St. Wabash, IN 46992