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March 24, 2014
Services
Friends may visit with the family at the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne, on Friday, March 28, 2014 from 2-4 & 7-9 PM.
Funeral Services will be held on Saturday, March 29, 2014 at 9 AM from the funeral home, then to St. Mary’s R.C. Church, 17 Pompton Ave., Pompton Lakes, where at 10 AM a Funeral Mass will be offered. Interment will follow at Brookside Cemetery, Englewood.
Frank W. Straub, age 76 of Paramus, died peacefully on Monday, March 24, 2014.
Frank was born and raised in Teaneck, the oldest of four children. Even as a boy, his younger siblings, Ray, Gary, and Irene (“Renee”) looked up to and admired their big brother Frank.
Growing up, Frank had a bit of a reputation as a trouble maker. But he really wasn’t a trouble maker at all! He simply had a thirst for all that life could offer and every once in a while that led him into what some could misperceive as trouble. As a young teenager, Frank got his hands on a small rowboat. Frank figured a boat needed an engine, but he didn’t have the money to buy one. Determined to give his rowboat some more power he settled on a 6 HP Elgin motor from Sears Roebuck for $99, which he paid off in $6 monthly installments. With the new boat, muskrat hunting with his younger brother Ray took on a whole new dimension. Frank was bigger so he would carry the boat while Ray carried the engine, trekking through the woods to the swamp near their house in Teaneck. The boys would drop the rowboat in the water, strap the engine to the back and cruise through the swamp tributaries to the Overpeck Creek where they skillfully hunted those prized muskrats.
By the time Frank got to high school he had purchased his first car - a 1937 Plymouth – with half of the $45 purchase price borrowed from his father. Years later he purchased a brand-new green 1959 Edsel, a two-door hardtop that lived on in Frank’s stories long past its useful life on the roads of Jersey.
Frank took a real fancy to working on cars, so, while most back yards in the neighborhood were full of grass and surrounded by colorful flowers, the back yard at the Straub home boasted a different kind of landscaping – namely, whatever car or engine Frank and Ray were working on at the time surrounded by a mixture of colorful old abandoned cars, car parts, and engines. Momma Straub didn’t mind though; she loved that she always knew where Frank and her other boys were and she was proud of their enthusiasm and inquisitive natures.
Frank’s love of cars soon led to a desire to race them. Frank encouraged his younger brother Ray to help him, and together they built their first race car. They took a 1951 Henry J. Kaiser and modified it with the transmission from Frank’s 1937 Cadillac Limousine. The engine was so big that they had to cut the dashboard back 28 inches so the engine could fit. As a result, the driver’s seat ended up somewhere between where the front seat and back seat should have been! Together, Frank and Ray brought their prized “Henry J” to the Montgomery Motorsports Park (an old former WWII airstrip in Montgomery, NY) and the Atco Dragway in Atco, NJ where they entered it in the B/Altered class. Frank and Ray were dominant at the racetrack and trophied countless times. Many years later, when those trophies didn’t convey to Frank the same honor and pride that they used to, Frank put them outside with the garbage. He got a great kick out of seeing young boys snatch them up before the garbage man could come, proudly displaying the old trophies on the handlebars of their bikes, imagining their own racing victories.
While fast cars were acceptable, Frank’s mom forbade the riding of motorcycles. Not surprisingly, this didn’t deter her sons’ determination to have one. Back when Frank was a young man, thrill seeking was often derived and satisfied behind the wheel of a fast car or sitting aboard a super-charged motorcycle. Although no matter what mode of transportation, it wasn’t really the top speed that turned Frank on, it was the acceleration! Frank and Ray couldn’t resist their desire to have a motorcycle, no matter how much they loved and respected their Mom. Frank’s first bike was a 1959, 650cc Golden Flash BSA. Many motorcycles followed and his latest bike was a 1997, 1200cc Suzuki Bandit, modified (of course) to make it go faster and handle better.
Speed could be enjoyed in forms other than cars and motorcycles and Frank’s curiosity drove him to explore what it would feel like to go fast on the water. One of his boats he was aptly named “Soaking Wet” by Frank because the 70 horsepower engine mounted on the back of the boat was too heavy for the 16 foot hull and, consequently, the boat was so fast that it perpetually rode with its bow in the air – that is, until Frank let off the throttle. When he did that, the boat’s bow dove into the water and anyone who was along for the ride got soaking wet. He also had a Douglas Skater – a two-hull tunnel torpedo-of-a-boat that was clocked on radar at 97 miles per hour on Greenwoood Lake. But Frank’s pride and joy was his Correct Craft, a 16 foot ski boat with a 289 V8 that Frank and brother Ray modified and hot-rodded with a 351 Windsor V8. Frank loved to share his interests with others so nothing gave him greater joy than taking his younger siblings, nieces and nephews, and friends water skiing behind his Correct Craft.
Frank was a competitive bowler and started bowling when he was just eighteen years old. He was really good! In one famous game, he bowled eleven strikes in a row, falling just 3 points shy of the perfect game when was unable to land that final strike. When he gave up bowling, just four years ago at the age of 72, his average over fifty years was 197.
Frank also loved to go fast on snow. His favorite place to ski was Mad River Glen in Vermont. Weekend warrior that he was, all winter long Frank would get out of work on Friday afternoon, jump in his car and drive to Vermont so he could be ready for the ‘milk run’ first thing on Saturday morning. He’d ski all day Saturday, hang out with friends at the lodge, then ski Sunday morning before making the 275 mile drive home so he could be back to work at the Ford Motor Corporation on Monday morning. He was also an active member of the Ramapo Mountain Ski Club where he established countless friendships and remained an active member until 2013. His love for the club extended beyond just the joy of skiing. For many years, he served on the club’s board of directors and took an active role as production editor of the club’s newsletter. For his dedicated service, he was awarded the Ramapo Mountain Ski Club’s prestigious Aorangi Award.
With his contagious enthusiasm, he couldn’t help but include his brother Ray and sister Renee in all of his pursuits. His unbridled joy transformed all of his pursuits into family traditions.
On the surface, Frank was one tough dude! He was a great story teller and could easily have you laughing or leave you blushing (and usually would enjoy doing both). He would often tell non-G rated stories in front of his young impressionable nieces, but when yelled at by Renee, he’d always joke that he’d be happy to pay for their therapy. Frank was always the life of the party, especially at his annual Christmas-in-July parties (complete with all the trimmings!). Under his thinly-veiled tough exterior, there was a man with the most generous, the biggest, and the softest heart!
He was truly dedicated to his family and took care of his mother and brother Gary for over twenty five years. He was also very loving and generous to his nieces and nephews. He took great pride and joy in them, as they each did in him.
Perhaps surprisingly, Frank was also an avid reader, a critical thinker and a lover of geography and maps. He was a role model to his younger siblings and many who had the privilege of knowing him. In relationships with family as well as friends, he could always be counted on to be the most fair-minded person in the room. He was always there for everyone in whatever way they needed. His younger sister Renee said it best when she described Frank by saying; “He was the best man I’ve ever known in my life.”
Frank is survived by his two brothers: Gary Straub of Paramus, and Raymond Straub and his wife Marilyn of Spring Hill, FL; his sister Irene Baxter of Wayne; his two nephews: Raymond Jr. and Timothy Straub; and his two nieces: Jessie and Meghan Baxter.
If you would like to send a private condolence directly to the family use this condolence section.
Friends may visit with the family at the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne, on Friday, March 28, 2014 from 2-4 & 7-9 PM.
Funeral Services will be held on Saturday, March 29, 2014 at 9 AM from the funeral home, then to St. Mary’s R.C. Church, 17 Pompton Ave., Pompton Lakes, where at 10 AM a Funeral Mass will be offered. Interment will follow at Brookside Cemetery, Englewood.
March 24, 2014
Services
Friends may visit with the family at the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne, on Friday, March 28, 2014 from 2-4 & 7-9 PM.
Funeral Services will be held on Saturday, March 29, 2014 at 9 AM from the funeral home, then to St. Mary’s R.C. Church, 17 Pompton Ave., Pompton Lakes, where at 10 AM a Funeral Mass will be offered. Interment will follow at Brookside Cemetery, Englewood.
Frank W. Straub, age 76 of Paramus, died peacefully on Monday, March 24, 2014.
Frank was born and raised in Teaneck, the oldest of four children. Even as a boy, his younger siblings, Ray, Gary, and Irene (“Renee”) looked up to and admired their big brother Frank.
Growing up, Frank had a bit of a reputation as a trouble maker. But he really wasn’t a trouble maker at all! He simply had a thirst for all that life could offer and every once in a while that led him into what some could misperceive as trouble. As a young teenager, Frank got his hands on a small rowboat. Frank figured a boat needed an engine, but he didn’t have the money to buy one. Determined to give his rowboat some more power he settled on a 6 HP Elgin motor from Sears Roebuck for $99, which he paid off in $6 monthly installments. With the new boat, muskrat hunting with his younger brother Ray took on a whole new dimension. Frank was bigger so he would carry the boat while Ray carried the engine, trekking through the woods to the swamp near their house in Teaneck. The boys would drop the rowboat in the water, strap the engine to the back and cruise through the swamp tributaries to the Overpeck Creek where they skillfully hunted those prized muskrats.
By the time Frank got to high school he had purchased his first car - a 1937 Plymouth – with half of the $45 purchase price borrowed from his father. Years later he purchased a brand-new green 1959 Edsel, a two-door hardtop that lived on in Frank’s stories long past its useful life on the roads of Jersey.
Frank took a real fancy to working on cars, so, while most back yards in the neighborhood were full of grass and surrounded by colorful flowers, the back yard at the Straub home boasted a different kind of landscaping – namely, whatever car or engine Frank and Ray were working on at the time surrounded by a mixture of colorful old abandoned cars, car parts, and engines. Momma Straub didn’t mind though; she loved that she always knew where Frank and her other boys were and she was proud of their enthusiasm and inquisitive natures.
Frank’s love of cars soon led to a desire to race them. Frank encouraged his younger brother Ray to help him, and together they built their first race car. They took a 1951 Henry J. Kaiser and modified it with the transmission from Frank’s 1937 Cadillac Limousine. The engine was so big that they had to cut the dashboard back 28 inches so the engine could fit. As a result, the driver’s seat ended up somewhere between where the front seat and back seat should have been! Together, Frank and Ray brought their prized “Henry J” to the Montgomery Motorsports Park (an old former WWII airstrip in Montgomery, NY) and the Atco Dragway in Atco, NJ where they entered it in the B/Altered class. Frank and Ray were dominant at the racetrack and trophied countless times. Many years later, when those trophies didn’t convey to Frank the same honor and pride that they used to, Frank put them outside with the garbage. He got a great kick out of seeing young boys snatch them up before the garbage man could come, proudly displaying the old trophies on the handlebars of their bikes, imagining their own racing victories.
While fast cars were acceptable, Frank’s mom forbade the riding of motorcycles. Not surprisingly, this didn’t deter her sons’ determination to have one. Back when Frank was a young man, thrill seeking was often derived and satisfied behind the wheel of a fast car or sitting aboard a super-charged motorcycle. Although no matter what mode of transportation, it wasn’t really the top speed that turned Frank on, it was the acceleration! Frank and Ray couldn’t resist their desire to have a motorcycle, no matter how much they loved and respected their Mom. Frank’s first bike was a 1959, 650cc Golden Flash BSA. Many motorcycles followed and his latest bike was a 1997, 1200cc Suzuki Bandit, modified (of course) to make it go faster and handle better.
Speed could be enjoyed in forms other than cars and motorcycles and Frank’s curiosity drove him to explore what it would feel like to go fast on the water. One of his boats he was aptly named “Soaking Wet” by Frank because the 70 horsepower engine mounted on the back of the boat was too heavy for the 16 foot hull and, consequently, the boat was so fast that it perpetually rode with its bow in the air – that is, until Frank let off the throttle. When he did that, the boat’s bow dove into the water and anyone who was along for the ride got soaking wet. He also had a Douglas Skater – a two-hull tunnel torpedo-of-a-boat that was clocked on radar at 97 miles per hour on Greenwoood Lake. But Frank’s pride and joy was his Correct Craft, a 16 foot ski boat with a 289 V8 that Frank and brother Ray modified and hot-rodded with a 351 Windsor V8. Frank loved to share his interests with others so nothing gave him greater joy than taking his younger siblings, nieces and nephews, and friends water skiing behind his Correct Craft.
Frank was a competitive bowler and started bowling when he was just eighteen years old. He was really good! In one famous game, he bowled eleven strikes in a row, falling just 3 points shy of the perfect game when was unable to land that final strike. When he gave up bowling, just four years ago at the age of 72, his average over fifty years was 197.
Frank also loved to go fast on snow. His favorite place to ski was Mad River Glen in Vermont. Weekend warrior that he was, all winter long Frank would get out of work on Friday afternoon, jump in his car and drive to Vermont so he could be ready for the ‘milk run’ first thing on Saturday morning. He’d ski all day Saturday, hang out with friends at the lodge, then ski Sunday morning before making the 275 mile drive home so he could be back to work at the Ford Motor Corporation on Monday morning. He was also an active member of the Ramapo Mountain Ski Club where he established countless friendships and remained an active member until 2013. His love for the club extended beyond just the joy of skiing. For many years, he served on the club’s board of directors and took an active role as production editor of the club’s newsletter. For his dedicated service, he was awarded the Ramapo Mountain Ski Club’s prestigious Aorangi Award.
With his contagious enthusiasm, he couldn’t help but include his brother Ray and sister Renee in all of his pursuits. His unbridled joy transformed all of his pursuits into family traditions.
On the surface, Frank was one tough dude! He was a great story teller and could easily have you laughing or leave you blushing (and usually would enjoy doing both). He would often tell non-G rated stories in front of his young impressionable nieces, but when yelled at by Renee, he’d always joke that he’d be happy to pay for their therapy. Frank was always the life of the party, especially at his annual Christmas-in-July parties (complete with all the trimmings!). Under his thinly-veiled tough exterior, there was a man with the most generous, the biggest, and the softest heart!
He was truly dedicated to his family and took care of his mother and brother Gary for over twenty five years. He was also very loving and generous to his nieces and nephews. He took great pride and joy in them, as they each did in him.
Perhaps surprisingly, Frank was also an avid reader, a critical thinker and a lover of geography and maps. He was a role model to his younger siblings and many who had the privilege of knowing him. In relationships with family as well as friends, he could always be counted on to be the most fair-minded person in the room. He was always there for everyone in whatever way they needed. His younger sister Renee said it best when she described Frank by saying; “He was the best man I’ve ever known in my life.”
Frank is survived by his two brothers: Gary Straub of Paramus, and Raymond Straub and his wife Marilyn of Spring Hill, FL; his sister Irene Baxter of Wayne; his two nephews: Raymond Jr. and Timothy Straub; and his two nieces: Jessie and Meghan Baxter.
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