Boardwalk honors Occoquan activist

By Cheryl Chumley

Published: June 21, 2008

Saturday saw a full circle of sorts—the peaceful ending to a 2006 tragedy that left a wife bereft of her partner of nearly 50 years and a town without one of its most beloved and active residents.

Now, that wife, Bobbie Frank, is closing the circle and coming home from Maryland to Occoquan, and serendipi-tously perhaps, moving into a house adjacent to the very object of honor Saturday at Mamie Davis Park—a boardwalk on the riverfront that was dedicated to her late husband, Winfield C. Frank.

Come moving day, she'll be able to look out her window and see the culmination of one of "Win's" last projects, a multi-phased boardwalk, dock construction and street improvement plan he set in motion, just prior to his fatal fall in a bicycling accident.

"It was beautiful," Frank said of Saturday's dedication. "I am so grateful for this honor they have bestowed upon him."

To hear others talk, though, the dedication was just a small token and tribute for a man so well loved and respected, for a face so frequently described as cheerful, helpful and always wearing a smile.

A West Point graduate, a career military officer with more than 20 years' service—including two tours of duty in Vietnam as a helicopter combat pilot, which led to his receipt of dozens of meritorious service, commendation and merit awards—Frank did more than reminisce over scrapbooks.

"He was town treasurer for 12 years," said longtime friend and colleague Boyd Alexander, speaking to a crowd of roughly 50. "He had a vision for what Occoquan should be … and he made it a better place to be."

It was Frank's vision, Alexander continued, to see a boardwalk constructed on the riverfront, as well as a walkway leading from Va. 123 to the bridge, with old-timey shops and quaint residences dotting the main streets. But without money, the idea would remain just that.

"It was a terrific view," Alexander said. "But the town didn't have a lot of money. It did have two craft shows a year, though."

And it was Frank who parlayed the profits from the craft fairs into an opportunity to receive matching grant dol-lars.

"He had a vision," Alexander said. "He had a plan. He figured out how to finance it."

Or, as Councilman Leo Smith summed up: "One man's dream is now that man's leg-acy."

Staff writer Cheryl Chumley can be reached at 703-670-1907.