OBITUARY: William Lee Frakes, 92, of Melbourne, Passed Away Due to COVID-19 Complications August 15
By Space Coast Daily // August 21, 2020
In 1963 he moved his family to Kissimmee, Florida, where he entered the insurance business
BREVARD COUNTY • MELBOURNE, FLORIDA – William Lee Frakes, 92, of Melbourne, Florida, passed away August 15 of COVID-19 complications.
Bill was born August 3, 1928, in Pleasant Hill, Missouri. He served in the US Army from 1946-47 in the Philippines.
Upon discharge, he attended the University of Missouri, Columbia, from 1948-1950 where he received an Associates Degree in Poultry Husbandry.
In 1950 he married his high school sweetheart, Elizabeth Jane Booth, and moved to Effingham, Illinois, where he expanded Colonial Poultry Farms, a subsidiary of Great Plains Hatcheries which at the time was the largest chicken hatchery organization in the world, into the Midwest.
In 1963 he moved his family to Kissimmee, Florida, where he entered the insurance business. Bill was president of Lupfer-Frakes Insurance, a multi-line insurance agency which at its peak had 5 offices throughout Florida until he retired in 1991.
Bill served on the National Agency Advisory Board for the CIGNA Corporation, was past President and Secretary of the Osceola County Independent Agents Association and held the positions of Director and Vice President of the NCNB National Bank of Kissimmee.
Bill was an elder and deacon of the 1st Presbyterian Church of Kissimmee for many years.
Mr. Frakes’ civic contributions included being the first Chairman of the Osceola Committee of 100, Chairman of the Kissimmee Planning Advisory Board, Chairman of the Kissimmee Airport Advisory Committee, Chairman of the Osceola County Development Board, Chairman of the Osceola County Health Facilities Board, Director of the Central Florida Heart Association, member of the Board of Trustees of the Kissimmee Fireman’s Pension Fund, President and Treasurer of the Rotary Club of Kissimmee, Chairman of the 1967 Rotary Sponsored Florida Air Fair, and member of various committees of the Osceola County Chamber of Commerce.
In 2017 Bill and his wife Elizabeth moved permanently to Brevard County to live closer to family.
Bill loved fishing, hunting, and woodworking. For many years he was an aircraft owner and gained over 2500 hours of multi-engine instrument flying time.
He spent many happy times flying to the Bahamas and to Piper Comanche Conventions.
William Lee Frakes is survived by his wife of 69 years, Elizabeth “Betty Jane” Frakes, his two daughters Patricia Frakes Dial of Malabar, Florida, and Dr. Rebecca Lee Frakes of Cincinnati, Ohio, five grandchildren Rachel Elizabeth Dial, Douglas Locke Dial, Jr., James William Spearman, Joseph Frederick Spearman, Johnathan Henry Spearman, one great-grandchild Theodore James Collins-Spearman, and two son-in-law’s Douglas Locke Dial, Sr. and Dr. Paul William Spearman.
A family memorial is planned for mid-September. In lieu of flowers, any donations in Mr Frakes’ memory may be made to the Boys and Girls Club of Central Florida or the First Presbyterian Church of Kissimmee.
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