Frank So昀o passed away peacefully at his home on Sept. 3, 2022 after a very short battle with acute leukemia at the age of 86.
Francis Joesph So昀o was born on the kitchen table of his parents home in Bayonne, New Jersey on Friday 13, 1936, the 昀rst child of immigrant parents. Raised in Bayonne, he would grow up to play guitar, like his father, and grow to love baseball, becoming a High School pitcher for St. Peter’s Prep School.
It was in Bayonne that he met, fell in love, and married the love of this life Martha Kroncke.
After graduating from St. Peter’s College he became an accountant and they moved to Hastings, Minnesota, bought a house on 1615 Walnut Street, had four children… then bought a bigger house at 1150 Park Court.
Maybe it had something to do with being born on a Friday the 13th, or maybe it was just who he was meant to be, but Frank was a kind and compassionate man. With a gregarious personality he enjoyed the company of others. This was a gift that served him well in his accounting career; as he served on the local school board; as he played guitar and sang at St. Phillip’s Lutheran Church; and as he played countless rounds of golf…Oh! How he loved golf! It seemed that everybody he met became a friend.
Frank and Martha never left Hastings, falling in love with the river city, it’s people, and it’s pace of life.
Frank will be greatly missed, but that is for us… he lived a full life, was well loved by family and friends, and I suspect he had only a few regrets…this seems to be the pattern of kind and compassionate people.
He was preceded in death by his father Salvatore, his mother Rose, and his brother Dominick.
He is survived by his wife Martha, his children Mark (Margaret), Mia (Laura Heuer), Greg (Kelly), and Gary (Jana), his grandchildren Anna (Chris), Catelyn (Justin), Addie, Dominick, Tina, Mea, Nicholas, and Martha, and his great grandchildren Bennett and Ava.
A “Remembrance and Celebration” will be held 11 a.m. on Sept. 24 at his home. In lieu of 昀owers or donations, live tomorrow with kindness and compassion, there is never too much of it.
