Lew and Jean Frank, wonderful, warm teachers, friends, birders

In between, they raised a family; they also made and kept a lot of friends.

“I met them ... probably in 1961,” said Gettysburg’s Nancy C Locher. “They left here after Lew retired and moved to Maine.”

Lew married Jean Ward, whom his family described as “the love of his life,” in 1949. The couple settled in Gettysburg. They raised two children here, while he taught college psychology and worked as a psychological counselor. Jean taught high school English in Biglerville.

Every summer Lew and Jean made their escape to a spit of land on the Maine coast, Indian Point. They became full-time Mainers in 1992, moving to a home Georgetown. They enjoyed the landscape, the family wrote, the wildlife, the birds, the quiet and the people. Any time of year, Lew and Jean could be seen walking at Reid State Park, binoculars always handy.

“They were wonderful friends, both of them,” Locher said. “Jean was an ardent birder. When she was here, she was probably the best birder we had in town. Lew was a professor of psychology and a counselor, a very warm person. Everybody liked Lew, mild-mannered and with a good sense of humor. Jean also had a good sense of humor. Both of them were excellent teachers, and just warm friendly people, fun to be around. Highly thought of and a joy to be with.

Emily Wenk, a 1976 graduate of BHS, said, “We (she and husband Dave) both have nothing but fond memories of Mrs. Frank. She was a teacher I really admired for her wit and dignity.”

Down the line, even people who didn’t know Jean or Lew very well used the same words to describe them: “Warm,” “Friendly,” “Professional,” “Classy.”

Diane Fetters, whose 25-year teaching career at BHS began right when Jean’s wound down, highlighted those opinions.

“I worked with Jean years ago. I remember vividly that she and Lew were avid birdwatchers, don’t have a lot more to add. That was the first year I taught, 1971. She was such a lady. Elegant, interesting, intellectual. She was your standard class act, and a great teacher. She was what you aspired to be,” Fetters said.

Gettysburg Times Night Editor D.K. Thomas said she took a nine-week “mini-mester” class on journalism at BHS from Jean Frank.

“I’ve based a 40-plus year career on those few weeks,” she said. “She was an outstanding teacher. I’ve heard the same about Lew.”

While BHS math teacher Roger Crum did not know Lew Frank, he worked with Jean.

“She was a real lady,” he said. “That’s what sticks in my mind. I can never remember kids saying anything unkind about her, and that means something. I can recall she had a sense of humor, which you need in the faculty lounge.”

Former principal and football coach Bob Shuey said Jean Frank was part of “top notch” English department.

“The kids liked her and respected her,” he said. “We had kids going to Yale, Princeton, West Point … I attribute a lot of that to the English department.”

Gettysburg birdwatcher, and Times columnist, Bonita Portzline said Lew was one of her favorite professors during her senior year at Gettysburg College.

“He was a solid man with such a sweet soul,” she said. “I am so glad he had a good long life.”

His family described Lew as a reader and thinker, author of scholarly articles, reminiscences and letters to the editor.

“He was an especially kind and thoughtful man, with a wonderful sense of humor,” his obit read. Though he told wonderful stories on many topics, “In all his favorite stories, the joke was on him.”

Jean’s obit went on to say she pursued her birding hobby during trips to the Canadian Maritimes, the Florida Keys, Alaska and other faraway places. She was recognized for her contributions to important research on the migration patterns of tundra swans. She was the person friends and neighbors called when they spotted an unusual bird. She was also a master gardener and a student of nature. She spoke to school and civic groups about birding and wrote a regular column on birds, plants and wildlife for the local Maine historical society newsletter.