Franklin Park

Frank Park, R.B.P., 83, born on April 09, 1943, in Los Angeles, CA, passed away June 17, 2026. 

In lieu of flowers please send a check to Monrovia Kiwanis Club, on the memo line designate "Scholarship Fund". Kiwanis Club of Monrovia, P.O. Box 317, Monrovia, CA 91016

Franklin Earl Park Eulogy

Franklin Earl Park was born to Constance Yale Park and Wilder Franklin Park on April 9, 1943 in Los Angeles, CA. Soon after he was born, his dad was drafted into the Army Dental Corps and the new family moved to Abilene, Texas. After his dad was shipped off to France and Germany in WWII, his mom and he moved in with Frank’s maternal grandparents on their “ranch” on south California Ave. in Duarte, CA. When his dad returned from the war, his parents built a home on land that his grandparents gave them just south of the ranch.

As a young boy, he played with his friends, including Neil Hatcher, on his grandparent’s ranch in the orchards and along the wash. He also played on a little league baseball team. In 1951, his sister Linda was born. During the 1950’s his parents would rent a house in San Clemente, CA and spend a few weeks at the beach during the summer. Frank and Linda would spend their days at the beach riding the waves on rented buoyant rubber rafts (similar to boogie boarding). Eventually, his dad negotiated with the owner of the rental shack to buy the rubber rafts so he wouldn’t have to keep paying rental fees. In 1957, his parents bought land in San Clemente and built apartments, where eventually, they used one of the apartments to spend the summers.

In 1958, his parents built and moved into their new home on Grand Ave. in Monrovia, CA. Frank chose to continue thru Duarte schools and was in the first graduating class of Duarte High School in 1961. Every morning during high school he was in charge of raising the flag in front of the school. In his senior year, he was the manager of the varsity football team, played on the tennis team, and was involved with the Kiwanis club. His class chose the school colors and their mascot. During this time, he learned how to play the guitar and ukulele. He would play the guitar, including a 4-string one, with his sister and his friend Andre. His family continued to spend summers enjoying the beach in San Clemente where he also surf fished with his paternal grandfather (Papa).

After graduating from high school, he attended Citrus College, where he discovered the love of his life, Lynda, his love of photography and his life-long friend Les Peterson. During his time there, he was on the swim team. Prior to Frank and Lynda’s first meeting, Frank remembers seeing Lynda walk into a class that he was in and thinking that he wanted to meet her. Unfortunately, Lynda had to drop the class. On October 1, 1963, he and a friend were waiting for a class and met Lynda and her friend, Mary, outside the classroom. The guys were sitting on the grass and Lynda and Mary stopped to talk to them. It was love at first sight for Lynda. It took a few months before they officially started dating.

Their first date was a dinner dance at the Disneyland Hotel. They enjoyed going on dates to dances at Citrus College and to Disneyland where they would dance at the Carnation Plaza. On New Years Eve 1963, at the Disneyland all night party, they shared their first kiss on the submarine ride at midnight. After Disneyland, they went to the Rose Parade and the Rose Bowl game on New Years Day 1964. Oh, to be young! Frank was always a perfect gentleman who always showed up for their dates, on time and wearing a white shirt and a tie.

During his time at Citrus College and dating Lynda, he worked for Foothill Photo as a delivery driver and drove all over the San Gabriel Valley in a Volkswagen bug. He loved this job and in his later years would tell a story about having to drive his route in first gear because something happened to the clutch in the bug.

He joined the Naval Reserves after he graduated from High School. When he became active in the Navy he went to Medical Corp School in San Diego, CA. In December of 1966, he shipped out to Da Nang Harbor, Vietnam. He was stationed on an APL (Auxiliary Personnel Living quarters). During his 10 months in Vietnam, he began taking pictures for the head doctor on the APL, which began his passion for medical photography.

Frank was busy when he returned from Vietnam. He proposed to Lynda on New Year’s Eve 1967, where they were spending the night on the Rose Parade route, with their friends Bill and Lynn. In January 1968, he began working at LA County-USC Medical Center (General Hospital) as a dark room assistant. He attended Cal State, Los Angeles from September 1968 to June 1975 earning his B.A. in Photography. He attended classes at night after work to earn his degree.

On February 1, 1969, Frank and Lynda were married at the First Presbyterian Church in Monrovia. They honeymooned by driving up the California Coast to San Francisco and then over to Yosemite National Park. They were lucky enough to enjoy Yosemite after a big snow storm.

During their early years of marriage, they enjoyed camping in Lynda’s grandmother’s 40-year-old umbrella tent that had holes in the corners, taking square dancing lessons with friends (Frank never missed a lesson), driving all over Southern California for Frank’s photography classes, driving to the mountains, and spending time in San Clemente.

In 1972, Frank and Lynda moved into their home on May Ave. in Monrovia. Karyn was born in June 1973 on Frank’s parents wedding anniversary. Frank looked forward to holding and rocking Karyn to sleep when he got home from work and school.

In March 1974, his father, W. Franklin Park passed away.

In November 1975, Bryan was born. Frank was excited to have a boy to continue on the “Park” family name. He was happy to have another baby to hold and rock to sleep when he got home from work. Frank continued to tuck the kids into bed as they grew up.

In the mid-1970’s Frank and Lynda along with the pastor, John Todd, at the First Presbyterian Church, helped start a Young Couples Group. The group had a monthly potluck and began to grow with many young families joining it. Over the years, the group held parking lot sales and pancake breakfasts at the church and went on many camping trips. Many life-long friendships were made by the families in the group, and is now called the “Forever Young Couples”.

In the late 1970’s the family of 4 started camping by renting and borrowing trailers before buying their own trailer in 1979. Thru the 1980’s the family took many family vacations with their trailer. They were known to spend holidays like Thanksgiving and Easter in the trailer. The longest trip they took as a family was 5 weeks where they traveled as far as New York City, and visited Washington D.C. Frank loved to drive and go anyplace, thus the license plate he got for his Ford Broncos: LezzGo.

Frank helped out the Webelos pack that Bryan joined in 4th grade. Frank met another dad, Larry in the pack. Larry and his wife Janie became good friends with Frank and Lynda, who shared their love of family life.

Frank was involved at First Presbyterian church serving as a Deacon and an Elder and was on the Nursery School committee. He also enjoyed ushering and playing in the handbell choir. He loved God and his church.

Frank spent many nights working on assignments to gain his R.B.P., Registered Biological Photographer, designation. He would come home late at night with his fish and chips dinner and the family would come out and eat them, so he had to start buying more so he’d have enough for his dinner and the family. In 1989, he completed an oral exam and presented his body of work to a panel in St. Louis, MO and he passed. He was officially an R.B.P.! His family and friends celebrated his achievement with a big party at their house. Over time by taking tests, finishing his degree, and getting his R.B.P he worked up to the title of Medical Photographer.

His job as a Medical Photographer required him to take pictures during surgeries, which was his favorite part of the job. The photos would be used to showcase something highly specialized, such as open-heart surgery and brain tumor removals, or to show new medical devices like heart valves. The surgeons would use the photos as a learning tool in their classrooms or in papers about the procedures. He also took photos on the burn ward to allow the doctors to monitor the healing process. One of his other duties was to take pictures of graduating nurses and other promotional activities at the hospital.

During Karyn and Bryan’s high school years, he supported their involvement in the MHS Band as a treasurer of the Band Boosters for 7 years. Decorating the floats for the Rose Parade was a fundraiser for the band, which he really enjoyed, even taking a couple of days off of work each year to help. Frank and Lynda would support Karyn and Bryan’s participation in band by coming to parades, field shows, football games, and concerts.

In 1990, the family was excited to welcome Sirte, a Finnish foreign exchange student, for a month in the summer. She came back for another visit in 1991 and has continued over the years to come back to see her “family”. In 1992, the family welcomed Sanna, another Finnish foreign exchange student for a month in the summer and returning a couple years later.

Frank enjoyed spending time with his family going on excursions on the weekends, working in the yard, fixing and building things around the house including building the deck in the backyard with Bryan, and going to San Clemente during the summer where the family would boogie board and Frank would whoop “woohoo!” when he caught his wave. As Karyn and Bryan moved out on their own, Frank was always willing to help with whatever project, question, or situation they came to him with.

During the early 2000’s, to help him learn and grow his photography skills, Frank began taking photography classes at Tri Community School in Covina. He took back information to his work to help with their transition from film to digital photography. Just like in the early years of their marriage, Lynda was again joining Frank on class photography excursions across Southern California.

In February 2002, his mother-in-law, Virginia Anderson passed away, followed by his mother, Constance Park, in May.

From 2004 to 2009, Frank and Lynda continued to travel but did so by car and plane as they sold their trailer in 2004. They visited their good friends Vicki and Larry in Maine, Margaret and David in New Jersey, Lynda’s cousins Jan and Bill in Flagstaff and a trip with them to Glacier National Park, a family reunion in Colorado, Portland, OR, and Mount Saint Helens, and many scenic areas of California.

He was a proud dad at Karyn and Sevren’s wedding in 2005 and Bryan and Zara’s wedding in 2011.

In 2008, Frank retired after 40 years from LA County-USC Medical Center as a medical photographer. Fun fact: for the first 19 years, the family had one car, that was shared with Lynda. Lynda would drop him off and pick him up at the bus stop in Arcadia for those 19 years. After they got another car, Frank continued to drive to the bus stop and take the bus to and from work for the remaining 21 years.

After his retirement, Frank joined the YMCA where he went swimming as often as he could. He was able to join the Kiwanis Club of Monrovia, where he was their photographer and was on the High School Scholarship committee. He also helped with the Taste of Old Town and of course, taking photographs. As part of the scholarship committee, Les, Jim, and he reviewed scholarship applications, interviewed and selected the 6 students to receive the scholarships. Frank continued to review applications even while he was in his skilled nursing facility.

Frank and Lynda began “cruising” in 2008, with their first cruise to Alaska and then in 2010 thru the Panama Canal with their “Forever Young Couples” group. In 2013, they took a cruise with Les and Linda, their longtime friends, on the Adriatic Sea.

In 2009, Frank and Lynda bought a new fifth wheel trailer. They traveled to Zion, Grand Canyon, and two trips that focused on ancestry. One was spent in Arizona and the other was their dream trip traveling for approximately 6 weeks to Nebraska and Michigan.

In 2015, Frank and Lynda rented an apartment in Seal Beach which was a dream come true. They spent as much time as they could at the apartment. They enjoyed hosting family birthdays, being close to Lynda’s sister, Marilyn, entertaining their friends Pam, Anita and Mike, Jim and Jocelyn, BBQing and enjoying their neighbors, going for walks to main street and the pier, and spending time with their good friends Lynn and Bill.

In 2017, Jayden came into the family, as Bryan and Zara worked to adopt him. In November, 2018, Frank and Lynda were excited to officially become “Grandad” and “Gram”. Jayden would come over to their house to spend a few days with them. He helped pull a bush out of the ground in the backyard, made handprints in cement, read stories, watched AGT, swam at the Duarte swimming pool, and helped to hang his great-grandfather’s American flag in the oak tree. They also spent time in Seal Beach where Grandad taught him how to boogie board. They took a couple of vacations with Jayden one was to Morro Bay where they saw sea otters, sea lions, and other sea life. And the other was in the summer of 2024, to the Coastal Redwoods in California where Grandad taught him about the redwoods, the rings on the trees, and of course, helped him to take photos with his camera.

In 2019, Frank and Lynda were delighted to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary with a trip to San Diego.

After they sold their fifth wheel in 2021, they continued to travel. They went to the Grand Canyon with Pam and to see the poppies in Lancaster, CA with Anita and Mike.

September 2022 was the last time they visited and enjoyed Disneyland together.

In September 2024, soon after celebrating Lynda’s birthday at the apartment in Seal Beach, Frank experienced a life-threatening episode where the treatment caused him to lose his ability to walk and required him to live the last 18 months in skilled nursing facilities. He never complained and was always happy to see his family and friends that came to visit him.

He was always willing to go, do, relax, have fun, travel, be with his family – no matter the occasion, play games, stand in the middle of the street for the B2 flyover on January 1 – every year (and take photos)! Always photos!! He would STOP to take photos of flowers or a scenic spot, whether or not he was towing the trailer. He was wide awake to go, no matter how early. He never grumbled or complained, he was always so happy and loved his life!