Frank McConnell

Frank E. McConnell NORFOLK - Frank Emory McConnell perished Oct. 15, 2009. He was born in Canada in 1931 of U.S. citizens. His parents were from Mississippi and Tennessee, and he claimed to be the only kid in Montreal brought up on black-eyed peas and grits. The family moved to the U.S. in 1941, settling in Larchmont, N.Y. He graduated from Lehigh University with a B.S. in mechanical engineering. From college he went to Navy OCS and from there to Mare Island Naval Shipyard as ship superintendent for submarine overhaul. Later he was transferred to a destroyer tender as assistant engineering officer. Frank's career was in shipbuilding and repair as a result of his initial Navy assignment and his attraction to ships and the sea. His major employers were Electric Boat in Groton, Conn., Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Miss., and Metro Machine in Norfolk. He was design project engineer for Triton and Lafayette classes of submarines, and was Electric Boat's representative aboard Triton during its highly publicized submerged circumnavigation in 1960. His last assignments at Metro Machine were as a program manager for multi-year Navy ship maintenance contracts, and president of a Metro Machine subsidiary developing solutions to longstanding shipbuilding environmental issues. He was a member of several professional societies and their committees and had a number of technical papers published, one of which won a national award from the American Welding Society. He was a co-holder of seven patents. He retired in 1996. Among his obsessions outside of work and family were yacht racing, steam locomotives, and Gilbert and Sullivan operas. He raced small boats - his first competition was the Boys Championship of Larchmont Yacht Club in 1945 and his last was the City of Yorktown Annual Regatta in 1988. He won them both and many in between. After his retirement from racing, he and his wife cruised extensively, mostly aboard their Nonsuch 30. He had been an officer/and or director of the Lehigh University Sailing Club, Ram Island Yacht Club (Connecticut), Ocean Springs Yacht Club (Mississippi), Biloxi Yacht Club (Mississippi), and the Elizabeth River Power Squadron. He was also a member of the First Presbyterian Church, Norfolk. He was a steam locomotive enthusiast and memorized every word to every Gilbert and Sullivan opera recording. He was a member of a close and loving family. He is survived by his wife of 55 years, Barbara; daughters, Susan Baker and her husband John, Ann Veeck and her husband Greg; son, Jim McConnell and his wife Trish and Weimin Sun and wife Tracy; granddaughters, Georgia and Maggie Baker, Sarah and Robin Veeck and Bailey McConnell; grandsons, Blake Emory McConnell and Benjamin Frank Sun; his brother, William R. McConnell and wife Nancy; his sister-in-law, Nancy Drake Maggard and her husband John; and his faithful companion, Mabel Stanley McConnell (G&S fans, take note). The family will receive friends at H.D. Oliver Funeral Apartments, Norfolk Chapel, Monday, Oct. 19, from 4 to 6 p.m. Interment will take place at a later date in Larchmont, N.Y.