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OBITUARY

Francis Lloyd Willauer, Jr.

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Francis Lloyd Willauer, Jr. ("Fran," "Dad," "Gramps") died Dec. 24, 2022, in Florida with his wife, Sharon, by his side. He had just celebrated his 85th birthday five days earlier. 

Fran was born in Marysville, Kansas, to Francis Sr. and Wilma Willauer. An only child, he was, of course, doted on and loved. Fran grew up in Pittsburg, and as so many boys born in that time, Fran loved baseball and trains. Two loves that carried on throughout his life. Fran enjoyed watching "the game" and occupying storage space with his train sets. The trains often came out around the holidays, and he enjoyed building and running those old trains on the track with his daughters and grandchildren. 

Fran married Sharon in 1974 and, while working at Pittsburg State University as a computer programmer, raised his family. He loved his family—Sharon and his three girls, Renee, Sibyl, and Brigette, and seven grandchildren, Drew, Sissy, Jacob, Tyler, Nicola, Andrew, and Michael. After working at Pitt State for 32 years, he retired and moved with Sharon to Florida, where one of his daughters quickly followed. 

He was the keeper of family memories, always bringing out the camera for occasions big and small, from weddings to the family lounging around the pool. A relic of a bygone era, he printed all the pictures he took and placed them in photo albums. Before that, he took care to print his photos on slides that his children were in awe of, turning down the lights to watch a slide show with Fran at the ready, clicking through the reel. What a legacy. He may be out of sight but never out of mind. He will be greatly missed.