FRANK DWIGHT GREENFIELD

Friday, August 28, 2009

Frank Dwight Greenfield, age 80, a resident of Fort Scott, Kan., died Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2009, at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Kan.

He was born Oct. 14, 1928, in Garland, Kan., son of Forrest Dwight Greenfield and Marcella Julia Schulze Greenfield.

He married Joan G. Karleskint on Jan. 13, 1951, at Mary Queen of Angels Catholic Church in Fort Scott.

Frank was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1951 and stationed at Colorado Springs, Colorado, and honorably discharged in 1953.

After the military, he and his wife returned to Fort Scott where he worked for the Frisco Railroad until moving to Wichita, Kan., in 1956 to work for Cessna Aviation and Boeing Aviation as an engineer.

In 1964, he and his family were transferred to North and South Dakota by Boeing where he served as a Minuteman in the nuclear missile silos until 1970.

He and his family were then transferred by Boeing to the Renton, Wash., area where he continued to work as an engineer on important projects on their "Flight Line" such as the very first Supersonic Transport (SST) and helped build and service new commercial and military aircraft.

He retired in 1973, from Boeing and returned to Fort Scott, Kan., with his wife and children.

He was a highly adventurous man who loved to see and experience new places and things, while ensuring that his children shared in these adventures at the same time. He loved things such as traveling (always collecting a few interesting rocks for his beloved wife), panning for gold, collecting arrowheads, reading, and working with his hands and mind.

His whole life was centered around his wife and children.

He was a very astute and intelligent man willing to share his knowledge, but in a very humble way.

He will be remembered for his remarkable and unique sense of humor, building bridges where there were none and lightening the burdens of peoples' hearts.

Survivors include his wife, Joan, of the home; his children, Joel Greenfield, Stanwood, Wash., Kathleen North and husband, Alex, Lynden, Wash., Valerie Graham and husband, Tom, Fort Scott, Kan., Mary Hymer and husband Lee, Ottawa, Kan. Donna Craven and husband, David, Eudora, Kan.; nine grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.

Also surviving are two sisters, Helena Ramsey, Fort Scott, and Barbara Racine, Colonial Beach, Va.

He was preceded in death by one brother, Robert Greenfield, three sisters, Grace Rourk, Doris Pierce, and Julia Finch, as well as his parents.

William James Schafer, of Mercy Pastoral Care, will conduct funeral services at 12:30 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2009, at the Cheney Witt Memorial Chapel.

Burial will follow in the U. S. National Cemetery where military honors will be provided by the Olson Frary Burkhart Post No. 1165 Veterans of Foreign Wars.

The family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. Monday, at the Cheney Witt Chapel.

Words of remembrance may be submitted to the online guestbook at www.cheneywitt.com.

Services are under the direction of the Cheney Witt Chapel, 201 S. Main, Fort Scott, Kansas.