Franklin W Dee

Franklin W. Dee
Pan American Enthusiast, Runner, New Yorker
Franklin “Frankie” Dee of North Babylon, New York passed away on January 24th, 2017. He was 82 years old. Franklin was a proud, vocal, New Yorker who lived life with an unfiltered passion and zest for life until his last day.
Frank was born to Louise and George Dee of Manhattan, New York on August 25th, 1934. He was the 7th of ten children.
A proud Pan American Airline employee for 18 year at John F Kennedy Airport, Frank enthusiastically kept a group of former Pan American employees together for the last 30 years. He organized frequent reunions holding lunches at local Long Island diners. He loved his job at Pan Am but loved his Pan American friends and family so much more. He made it his life’s mission to keep the Pan American memories alive.
A devoted runner since 1976 he ran the New York City Marathon in 1979 in addition to the Long Island Marathon, dozens of Half Marathon’s and hundreds road races. He was a former member of the Massapequa Road Runners and a frequent participant in the Long Island Road Runner’s Eisenhower Park 5K Wednesday night races throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s. Many local runners knew him by his nick name the Lone Jogger.
At 82 shortly after being diagnosed with bladder cancer and facing surgery Frank asked his son Ron and his girlfriend Rosemary Flynn to power walk the Sunken Meadow State Park 5000 Meter course including the famed Cardiac Hill. He completed the course with ease while lecturing about the government’s ability to spend billions of dollars on a space ship to Mars but not be able to cure cancer.
After his career at Pan American ended, Frank became the head custodian at the North Babylon Public Library for 10 years. In this role Frank made many friends in the community and endeared himself to the library staff by often bringing them fresh flowers from his own garden in North Babylon where he resided for 50 years.
Frank was a member of Cross of Christ Lutheran Church in Babylon where he volunteered frequently. For over 25 years Frank set up and provided flowers for the Church’s community dinner.
A life-long Democrat and champion of the poor, his mother Louise Dee named him after Franklin Delano Roosevelt whom he considered his hero.
He hated the absence of common sense and often stated that his hometown of New York City continued to add residential housing despite the fact that the Cross Bronx Expressway was a parking lot and the government refused to build any new bridges or tunnels.
Pan American and the North Babylon Public Library while inseparable from Frank’s identify, the best job he ever had was working at the Automat in New York City. The Automat was a fast food restaurant composed of enormous vending machines with coin operated glass cases containing every kind of food imaginable. The wages were terrible but his boss let him eat for free multiple times per day.
Frank loved Belmont Lake State Park (The Park). He ran, biked and walked thousands of miles there while relentlessly berated the New York State Park Commissioner for constantly raising the parking fees. When not at Belmont Park, Frank could be found strolling the beach near Robert Moses Field Five or giving impromptu tours of the Lighthouse weather you wanted one or not.
He was a devoted and loving husband to Irene Dee for 38 years. He and Irene raised one son Ronald who married Renee (Manuse) Dee. They are the parents of Frank’s three grandchildren; Colin, Bryan and Alison. He is also survived by his brothers George and Jack as well as sisters Margaret, Marion, Joan and Arlene. He was pre-deceased by his bothers Alfred, Arnold and sister Ada.For the past seven years Frank and Rosemary Flynn of Brentwood, New York had an amazing loving friendship which enhanced both of their lives. They walked and hiked hundreds of miles, went to the health club together and dined out frequently.
Frank will have a wake on Friday, January 27th, 2017 at Mangano Funeral Home in Deer Park New York. A Church Service will be held at Cross of Christ Lutheran Church in Babylon, New York on Saturday, January 28th, 2017. Cremation and a private family interment at Pinelawn Memorial Park will be scheduled at a later date. In lieu of flowers the family is asking for donations in his memory to The American Cancer Society. www.cancer.org