Bladek, Frank Albert

October 2, 1921 February 15, 2010 Frank was born in 
Passaic, NJ and grew up in a largely immigrant 
neighborhood in Clifton, NJ. Both his parents had 
immigrated to the U.S. from Polish territories in Germany 
and Austria-Hungary and Frank was raised speaking both 
English and Polish, as well as German. His fondest 
memories of the 1930s were of taking the train to Yankee 
Stadium with his older brothers and seeing Babe Ruth and 
Lou Gehrig play baseball. He attended Fordham University 
Business School in New York City where he earned an 
accounting degree, but just after graduation in 1943 he was 
drafted and entered the U.S. Army. There his language 
skills paid off and he trained as an interpreter. Frank 
always liked to talk about sailing to England on the Queen 
Mary, even though he sailed with 10,000 other soldiers and 
his cabin was at the torpedo line. Once in Europe he 
served with the JAG Corps as a translator for a team 
hunting war criminals and also as an interpreter at trials. 
His favorite stories were of selling his cigarette allowance 
on the black market to help a German doctor get penicillin 
for his dying son and of becoming a go-between for a 
family in CA and their German relatives. After the war, 
Frank decided to move west and picked Seattle. He went 
to work for Boeing as an accountant, and while there met 
his future wife, Bea Koontz, when they lived in the same 
boarding house. Frank and Bea married in 1952 and moved 
to Spokane in 1953. They lived together in the same 
house in Spokane Valley from 1955 until 2007 when Bea 
died. Together they raised six sons, Mike, Paul, Tim, John, 
Tony and Steve, losing their beloved Christopher at age 
five. Frank worked for the Washington State Dept of 
Revenue as an auditor and supervisor from 1952 until his 
retirement in 1986. His fondest memory of that time was 
again connected to baseball when he was sent to LA to 
audit the Dodgers, who were then affiliated with the 
Spokane Indians. Frank's greatest joy came from playing 
baseball in the backyard with his sons and teaching them 
his most favorite pastime, golf. He spent countless hours 
on the course or in his yard hitting practice shots and 
teaching all his boys how to grip the club and take an easy 
swing. He seemingly never failed to attend any of his 
sons' sporting events, slipping out of work to watch them 
compete any time of day. As his sons grew older, he was 
also known to tell anyone who would listen exactly how 
many educational degrees each son held. Frank was 
preceded in death by his beloved wife, Bea, his parents, 
George and Agnes Bladek and his brothers and sisters, 
Steve, Bebe, Joe, Sophie , Marion and Emily. He is survived 
by his six sons, and his grandchildren, Matt, Heather, Chris, 
Ally, Sean, Kate, Andrew, Robert, Jolene, and Dalene, and 
great-granddaughter Kaylene. Mass of Christian Burial will 
be held on Thursday, February 25, 11:00AM at St. Mary's 
Catholic Church, 304 S. Adams, Spokane Valley. A private 
family interment will be held at St. Joseph's Catholic 
Cemetery. 

Published in Spokesman-Review from February 21 to 
February 22, 2010