"Goodbye, Lolo Frank by Rodrigo Jamisola The kids called him "Lolo Frank" or Grandpa Frank, as he has been to our family throughout our stay in Colorado. As PhD student with two small kids, I was looking for extra work and I found Frank's advertisement to encode his book from his hand-written notes. I guess I did well that he collected from all other encoders all the needed work and I became the only encoder he wanted to work on his book. We became good friends and I brought my family for pizza dinner one Friday that became a regular Friday activity. My kids developed their love for pizza and they looked forward for the next Friday to sit on Lolo Frank's lap and eat the much awaited delectable pizza. One day, he cannot find new hand-written notes for me to encode and he gave me the old ones. I told him, "These were already done, Frank." But he looked at me and said, "Just do it again." "How did you managed to read my dad's handwriting, Rodrigo?", Steve asked me when he visited Colorado. "Well, when you really need to earn money, you can read anything!" Things went bad with my studies and Frank would try to sing for me Prayer of St. Francis when I visit him to bring some finished encoding work. Then things went from bad to worse and I have to move my family out of America. And the kids grew bigger and the calls to Lolo Frank became less frequent. Then came a chance to visit him last October. I have to help him to my car to dinner but he wanted to get back inside the house because he forgot to bring his check book. "I am now a professor in Africa, Frank. And I am paid well. Very well. You don't need to worry." He looked at me with proud eyes, as a real father to his real son. I stayed one night with him in Shenandoah. We talked and talked the whole night and we went out for breakfast in the morning. Then I have to leave. Something told me I may not see him again. But I wish I could have showed him enough how grateful I was and my family for his love. I wish I could have showed him enough. "
In loving memory of
Franklin "Frank" D. Bayless
August 23, 1933 - July 23, 2019
Franklin Dale Bayless was born on August 23, 1933 to Emma Grace (Eby) and Olin Russell Bayless. Frank passed away in the evening of Tuesday July 23, 2019 at the Elm Heights Care Center. He was 85 years old.
Franklin Bayless was born in Blanchard, Iowa, where he joined siblings Merril "Bud", BIll, Kenneth "Ace", Mildred (Finlay) and Gwen (Whitehill). Later he was joined by Mary Lou (Chambers). Franklin attended country school and later Coin High School where he graduated in 1951. Frank later graduated from Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville as his class president in 1954.
After finishing college, Frank enlisted into the Navy and served aboard the aircraft carrier USS Essex where he was a cryptographer and traveled across the pacific rim. Following his departure from the Navy, discharged in San Francisco, he stopped through Denver Colorado to visit his childhood friend, Jim Yeisley, on his way home to Iowa, and there he decided to put down roots in the Rockies. He moved later to Cheyenne Wyoming and then decided to attend Law School in Laramie. He graduated from the University of Wyoming in 1965, and moved to Idaho Falls Idaho to work as an attorney for the US Atomic Energy Commission. He returned to Cheyenne where he met Jane (Chiswell) Sizemore through now federal district Judge Alan Johnson, a mutual friend, and married in 1968. His son Steven was born in 1970.
Frank worked for Laramie County Legal Services defending indigent clients and was an assistant prosecutor working under longtime friend Tom Carrol and assigned to represent the Department of Social Services in helping protect children from abuse and neglect. He later established his own private practice and law firm and was admitted to the Wyoming and US Supreme Court Bars, was appointed by the Governor to the state's land use commission and volunteered to help run the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo. He practiced law in Cheyenne until 2005 and then returned to Iowa to be closer to family and the childhood home that he loved. In Shenandoah, he enjoyed writing, reading books on history, politics, and current affairs, talking basketball and football, and palling around with friends over coffee.
He made many friends in Wyoming, Colorado and Iowa in his work, at his church, and through his volunteering. He was described by more than one colleague as a consummate professional with 'no ego' -- a disposition rarely seen in such an adversarial and rarified profession. As such, he was described by tough minded but with "a kind and generous heart...He lived by the philosophy that if he could help someone out he should." He was generous with friends, and very close to his family and loved his son, grandson, his brothers and sisters and in-laws, and all his nieces and nephews. He was a frequent source of advice, comfort and solace to many of his relatives, and to a few friends whom he treated as family.
Frank is survived by his son Steven and daughter-in-law Nicole Cohen, and grandson Rian of Washington DC, and sister-in-law Wilma Bayless of Elmo, Missouri and brother-in-law Jim Chambers of Council Bluffs Iowa. He is survived by nieces, Joan (Bayless) Edwards, Peggy (Finlay) Oliver, Jan (Finlay) Western, and Karen (Chambers) Cobb and his nephews Bob Bayless, Duane Whitehill, John Bayless, and Brad Chambers. Frank is preceded in death by his parents, his siblings and his niece Judy Kaye (Whitehill) Ditmars.
Celebration of life funeral service will be held 11:00 a.m., Tuesday, July 30, 2019 at the Hackett-Livingston Funeral Home in Shenandoah. Visitation with the family will be held from 10:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m., Tuesday, July 30, 2019 at the funeral home. Burial will be held at the Rose Hill Cemetery in Shenandoah with military rites provided by the Shenandoah American Legion Post #88 Color Guard. Memorials may be made to the charity of your choice.
Tributes
"I got to know Frank at Democrat meetings. Now he and Mike can have more discussions. A good man. "
"Frank was a highschool classmate of mine. We were also near neighbors in Coin and friends who spent a good deal of time together. The years go by and I have not been good at staying in touch. My sympathy to you his family and do affirm his service to our country and his work as a professional person through the years. Blessings be with you. A fellow classmate called to let me know about his death. I would like to attend Tuesday and express my sympathy personally but cannot since I will be with family in northern Wisconsin all this week. Ward Young"
"When I first met Franklin Bayless I was in high school and interviewing to be his firm's runner. He was kind of a scary guy at first glance -- he didn't look happy and I thought maybe he was grouchy! I somehow landed that job and managed to be a part of Frank's life for like 15 years! From that point forward I learned just what a great guy he was and that his rough exterior did not match his interior. Frank taught me lots about running a law firm and practicing law. He had a kind and generous heart. He lived by the philosophy that if he could help someone out he should. He practiced that daily -- in both his friend relationships and his client relationships. Even when Frank moved back to Iowa he kept my number and a couple times in the past 10 years he would just randomly call my work number to chat. It was always nice to hear his voice on the other line. I thought about him a couple of months ago and wondered how he was. I hope he knew that I cherished our friendship and all that he did to help me become who I am today. My thoughts and prayers are with his family. "