We’re all a little sad today, as we say good-bye to Frank Belcher.
Frank was a sweet, fun, gentle gentleman who adopted the entire park as his family.
Not that Frank needed more family–he already had a wonderful one. But when your heart’s that big, you just keep adding friends and loved ones.
Frank retired from a long career, including the Fire Chief of Princeton, Indiana, in 1980.
He then became a full-time Holiday World fan.
Reading comments posted about Frank on various Facebook pages these past few days, the same word is repeated over and over: kind.
Indeed, Frank was a kind man. He came to the shows and made the entertainers feel extra special when he would remember their names and chat with them after the shows.
He was everybody’s grandpa.
For 30 years, Frank visited us nearly every day of the season. He took lots of photos of the shows, and was generous handing out copies of his favorite pictures of his park family.
Here’s one they took of him, up on stage after a show…
Frank even came to auditions, and made sure everyone had a soft drink from his cooler. He and his friend Luther (who no doubt greeted Frank at the pearly gates last Thursday) often came to the park together. They used to ask to be issued Season Pass #1 and Season Pass #2 each season (long before we went to that new-fangled scanner system).
We’ll let a former park entertainer named Josie finish this, with her sweet Facebook post: I remember how kind Frank was – he will live on in the wonderful memories I have of my summer at Holiday World.
