Frank Herman

Frank Herman 1922-2020
Frank Herman, age 97, a WWII Veteran and beloved father, grandfather and great grandfather died in his sleep on May 9, 2020. Frank was born in Malasky, Czechoslovakia on July 19,1922, to parents Frank and Mary. One of four children, Nicholas, Valeria (survivor), and August, Frank immigrated to Rouen, France in 1924 where he lived with his grandparents and two siblings while his parents and older brother Nick immigrated to the United States to make a new life in New York City. Nine years later, in 1933 at the age of 13, Frank was reunited with his parents at Ellis Island. At age 18, he joined the U.S. Army and served during WWII in the Solomon Islands and Southern Phillipines in the Asiatic Pacific Theater Campaign, Battery B 119th Coast Artillery.
After the war Frank became a mechanical engineer in the aerospace industry (Grumman) and educator at Manhattan Technical Institute. He met his wife Betty Odell (1924-1993) of Dobbs Ferry, NY while working in Tarrytown, NY. They were married at the Little Church Around the Corner in NYC on September 17, 1948 and settled in Riverdale, NY where they had three children, Mary, Catherine and Frank (survivors). In 1962 he moved the family to North Babylon, Long Island to the home where he lived until his death.
Frank took great pride in his children’s accomplishments and loved spending time with his beloved grandchildren Henry Sombke, Kit Sombke, Natalie Updyke, Lauren Massey Nicholas Herman, Visi Herman. and three great grandchildren, Norah, Charlie and Sienna. Some of his happiest moments were spent at gatherings with family and friends at the Saratoga Race Course or visits to Spring Lake in Kirksville, MO to visit daughter Mary Updyke and family.
Frank will be remembered for his clever whit, love of Strauss waltzes, penchant for thoroughbred horse racing and an insatiable craving for Entenmann’s cookies. A sentimental sole, he loved roses and thrilled to reading the Jackson & Perkins rose catalog.
Frank will be put to rest at the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, NY. A private service will be held in October.