Frank Grauch Lockhart was born on March 1, 1926 to George Lockhart, Jr. and Helen Grauch Lockhart in Frankford, Philadelphia, PA.  He graduated from Frankford High School in January, 1944 and he was the center and captain on the school football team when it won the city championship in 1943.  He enlisted as a Navy V-12 to study engineering, spending a year each at Duke, Drexel and then Swarthmore Colleges.  He married Elizabeth Veronica Aff on July 28, 1945 and they had four children: William G. (Mary Rosaire), Nancy Marie (Robert Chonko), James Alexander (Kumi), and Suzanne Louise (Ed Snizek).  In 1987 he married Marie Jane (Buchovecky) Loesch, in which transaction he inherited five sons and another daughter: Jack Shane (Susann), James Michael (Kathy), Gregg C., Kim A., Kerry B., and Lee Marie (Tim Donahue).  Altogether this blended family consists of 10 children, 19 grandchildren, and 27 great-grans.

Frank was an entrepreneur, starting the family sand and gravel business (Lockhart, Inc.) after succeeding his former boss in the refractory clay supply business.  He went into partnership with his friend Harry J. Steigelman to found Red-D-Mix Concrete Co., and he incorporated as Lockhart Associates.  Lockhart Sand Co., Inc. was founded in 1971 in the NJ Pinelands to supply state specification sand for concrete and asphalt companies in south Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania. In the early 70s he joined with the Liberty Corporation, a major aggregates corporation in the Philadelphia market, becoming its president and CEO, and the Sand Co. became a part of the Liberty family.  He retired to Marco Island, Florida where he met and married Marie in 1987.  After Lee and Tim Donahue moved to La Crosse they convinced Frank and Marie that they, too, should relocate to the four-season climate of the great white north, where Lee and Tim (and Mighty Mayo team) could help care for Marie’s health needs and eventually for Frank’s, too.   Frank was devoted to Marie and he exercised a great deal of care for her, as did the Donahue’s, who returned Frank’s devotion by caring for him after Marie passed away in December, 2011.

One of Frank’s favorite accomplishments was earning a membership at the Riverton Country Club in Riverton, NJ, where the family lived from 1947 until he moved to Florida.  He was Mayor of Riverton in 1970, then he became a member of the Burlington County Board of Chosen Freeholders in 1971.  He was also proud to be a member of the Pine Valley Golf Club in Pine Valley, NJ.  He loved to play golf, watch golf, talk about golf…golf was his passion and his pleasure.  He shot four holes-in-one over the course of his career.

He loved singing in the Church choir in Riverton, and he loved Christ Episcopal Church in La Crosse.  He had deep feelings of affection and camaraderie for many of his friends and companions there, and a deep relationship with Jesus Christ which he treasured in his heart.  He looked forward with great anticipation to seeing life “on the other side,” as his brother George has expressed it, and he had no fear of dying as he regarded death as a gateway to a better life, a life everlasting with his God and Savior Jesus Christ.  He was eager to join his Mother and Father, his little sister Helen and his best friend, his older brother Dr. George Lockhart III, who preceded him in his journey in 1998.

So we say farewell to our Dad, Pop, Pop Pop (Pop), and Pappy, who loved us and gave us all a wonderful example of what a good, kind and generous father should be.  We love you as you have loved us, and you loved us as Jesus has loved you. John1:12, John 11:23-26.

Funeral mass will be held at 11:00 am on Saturday, March 2nd, 2019 at the Christ Episcopal Church, 111 N 9th St, La Crosse. Visitation will be from 10:00 am until the time of mass at the church.

Memorials in his name may be given to Christ Episcopal Church or Gateway Area Council Boy Scouts of America.

To view Frank’s memorial video, please copy and paste the following link into your web browser.

https://www.tributeslides.com/tributes/show/C4Z6KCDM45LH92DH?e=1