Mr. Frank J. Bozick, 105, lifelong resident of Frontenac and local Pittsburg businessman, entered his eternal life on Saturday August 9th at 2:40 a.m. at the Sunset Manor Nursing Home in Frontenac.
He was born February 11, 1903 in Frontenac KS the son of Frank and Teresa (Yartz) Bozick.
Mr. Bozick owned and operated a business at Rose and Broadway in Pittsburg for approximately 50 years. In the 1930’s he started a filling station that at times included tire recapping, vulcanizing, an automobile dealership, television sales and distributorship and custom made automobile seat covers. In his youth he converted model T Fords into racecars. He built a single seat/single wing open cockpit airplane that was powered with a motorcycles engine.
At age 38 and at the beginning of WWII Mr. Bozick volunteered for the US Army. He joined an Ordinance Battalion primarily made up of volunteers from Kansas. Their mission was to design mobile machine shops in two 1⁄2-ton trucks that would provide mobile maintenance support for combat tanks and other track-type vehicles during the invasion of Europe. These mobile facilities were a “first” for the U.S. Army-Armored Tank Divisions. Frank obtained the rank of Sergeant First Class; his stateside assignments included Camp Perry, OH for basic military training and Fort Campbell, KY for the design and construction of the mobile machine shops. Overseas assignments took him to England (Normandy Invasion), France, Germany and Holland. On February 11, 2008 he was awarded Proclamations from the Kansas Governor, Pittsburg, Frontenac, and the Frontenac American Legion for being the oldest living WWII veteran in Kansas.
Mr. Bozick was a member of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Frontenac and the Frontenac American Legion. He loved fish and enjoyed the outdoors. Later in life vacation travels took him to the Territory of Alaska, he drove the Alaskan Highway back. In 1970 he visited Slovenia and Croatia (the birthplace of his parents).
He was preceded in death by his parents, 5 siblings Grace Winters, Mary Coleman, Ann Gadwood, Charles Bozick, John Bozick and a nephew Bob Winters. His surviving family includes longtime friend Josephine “Peppy” Arabia; nieces Gloria O’Brien, Mary Lee St. John, Greta Taylor, nephews-Charles Bozick Jr. and Jim Gadwood and numerous grand and great-grand nieces and nephews.
Mass of Christian burial will be 10 a.m. Saturday August 16th at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Frontenac with Father Robert McElwee as celebrant. Burial will follow in the Mount Carmel Cemetery, where the Frontenac American Legion will provided flag folding ceremonies. The parish rosary will be recited at 6 p.m. Friday at the Friskel Funeral Home in Frontenac where the family will receive friends following the rosary until 7 p.m. Condolences can be sent to www.friskefuneralhome.com. Memorial contributions can be made to the Mount Carmel Cemetery the Frontenac American Legion or the Southeast Kansas Humane Society.
Memorials may be brought by or mailed to the Friskel Funeral Home 230 E. McKay Frontenac, KS 66763. The entire Bozick family wants to express their sincere appreciation to all the friends who visited and helped Uncle Frank during his final months.
