.Frank online during one of our video chats
I first met Frank when I was working as a test engineer for a company in Melbourne Australia that manufactured Xray and other medical equipment. Here is a quote from one of my wife Dorothy's articles.
Every morning she would take the dog for a walk. On this particular day she mentioned a small company locally. The name was Watson Victor and they manufactured Electro-Medical equipment. What happened next characterized Dorothy.
She went inside and talked with the manager.
"My husband is a fully qualified electronics engineer. We live locally, do you have any vacancies."
" Tell him to see me tomorrow"
The factory only employed about 50 people, and I started on the day of my interview, settling into a quiet atmosphere that was tailored for me. The pace was easy, nobody rushed,
Within the month a move into the test room with more money even made things better.
What can I say about Frank, well, he was one of the most pedantic people I have ever met. Every minute detail from day to day catalogued in writing. one example was when we were testing the oil filled high voltage transformer tanks sparks would occasionally flash across the surface and yes he would count them. It drove the Forman insane. I always remember the day Frank left the company and the Forman dumping stacks of his note pads into the garbage.
Frank visited the following week with a brand new service vehicle. He now had a job as a television engineer. " I have spoken to the manager about you he said, you should go and see him" I did that and made the move away from Watson Victor after 3 years with nearly double the wages.
For the nex 5 years I would see him briefly every morning in the service department before we left to do our daily calls. It was then decided that my family move back to England, and with no Internet in those days we lost contact during the next 10 years until we emigrated to Canada in 1990 and I was able to make video contact with him every Sunday via Microsoft Messenger for many years.
We discussed family and technical matters. His wife Lesley had been taken into care and Frank was living alone, which brings me to a situation happening to him at that time. Driving through the local shopping center he collided with a delivery van off loading goods. After a medical examination he was told that he was gradually losing his sight.
When he got home his Pedantic background kicked in. He completely re-arranged the house so that in the future he would be ready. Putting on a blindfold and going through the motions of living without sight. Moving around the house getting meals etc. However other medical problems intervened and he had to spend time in hospital and then because his sight problem was showing signs of progressing to a care home. He took his computer and set it up in his room.
Whilst all the above was happening I moved back to England and then to Canada in 1990, and as mentioned, Microsoft Messenger became available and I would video chat with him every Sunday during the ongoing years.
As his eyesight degraded he purchased a large screen for his computer and on my calls I would re-arrange the items using my TeamViewer program to make it easier for him to find his way around the screen and he had other gadgets from the institute for the blind assisting his poor sight.
Eventually he was confined to bed. We still made contact each Sunday but I cut the video and we just talked. On this particular day his 2 daughters were visiting. They left for lunch and his son stayed behind. He intervened after a while " Dad's getting tired" I said my goodbye's " see you next week Frank.
Just an hour later I had an email from one of his daughters Frank had died.
This is not quite the end to my story about Frank.
The following day I had occasion to go shopping to Canadian Tyre
here in Niagara Falls. I walked to the end of an aisle turned right
and was confronted with a large ( 4 ft x 3 ft) white board with just
the one word printed on it in large letters (FRANK)
Go figure the coincidence.
I find that Frank is a product company.
