Francis J. "Frank" Spollen

(Asbury Park Press)

FRANCIS J. "FRANK" SPOLLEN
AGE: 82 MIDDLETOWN
Francis J. "Frank" Spollen, 82, of Middletown, passed away Saturday, Sept. 6, in Sugar Hill, N.Y., where he was under hospice care at his son's home. He was born Sept. 29, 1925, in New York City to Lawrence and Margaret Spollen, immigrants from County Westmeath, Ireland, and Newfoundland, Canada. Mr. Spollen was drafted into the U.S. Navy in 1943. After a brief period of duty on air-sea rescue boats, he served as an engineer on assault landing craft in the Pacific Theater. Before his honorable discharge in 1946, he served aboard the USS Botetcourt. He attended Newark College of Engineering (now NJIT) and Fordham University. After serving as a substitute teacher at New York City's McKee Vocational-Technical High School, he was hired by the Bell Laboratories. Thirty five years later, he retired from the Labs as a member of Technical Staff after earning two patents and working on some of the most technologically challenging projects of the day, including the design and laying of multiple transoceanic telecommunications cables. He also helped design and supervise construction of an artificial ocean at Bell Laboratories' Holmdel campus that simulated the chemistry, temperatures and pressures at the ocean bottom, allowing undersea cable and hardware to be tested in realistic conditions without the tremendous expense of actually laying cable. Mr. Spollen actively volunteered his time and talents to many causes over the years, including Cotton Ridge neighborhood landscaping, Cub Scouts & Boy Scouts of America, and The Barn for the Poorest of the Poor, Inc. He was also an avid and self-taught sailor, naval architect, gardener, and gourmet cook.
Mr. Spollen is survived by his wife of 50 years, Mary T. O'Flaherty and their four children, Marie Spollen of Arvada, Colo., Catherine Holt and her husband Stephen of St. Simon's Island, Ga., Martin F.J. Spollen and his wife Jie of New York City, and Michael Spollen and his wife Janice of Mt. Vernon, Va. Also mourning are his four grandchildren, Christopher and Maggie Holt, and Patrick and Rosemarie Spollen.
Visitation will be from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday at the Thompson Memorial Home, 310 Broad St., Red Bank. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday at St. James Roman Catholic Church, 94 Broad St., Red Bank. Afterward, he will be interred with his parents and maternal grandparents at St. Joseph's Cemetery, Barry Street, Rossville, Staten Island, N.Y. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that remembrances be made in his name to The Barn of the Poorest of the Poor, Inc., 39 Bayberry Lane, Middletown, NJ 07748.