Dear Cousins,

On May 1, 2015 we lost our cousin Frank Harrison McGregor III.  When I started writing blog stories about Guernsey Cousins,  Frank was always the first to contact me with a sincere “thanks”, he really  encouraged me to continue writing. So again, I  am writing a cousin story and dedicating it to our loving memories of Cousin Frank.

Frank was born June 22, 1950 in Oklahoma City to Frank Harrison McGregor, Jr. and Dorothy Lee Caffey McGregor and passed away unexpectedly at the age of 64, on Friday May 1 in Las Vegas, while on a guided bicycle ride around Lake Mead during his fraternity’s annual trip.

When I asked my cousins for their memories of Frank, these words kept coming up, “warm personality, great sense of humor, integrity, fun,  brilliant mind, loved God”.  None of these answers came as a surprise,  as we knew of  his heritage…………. his mother Dorothy’s fun personality and dry wit, his dad Frank Jr.’s warm smile and leadership, his grandfather Lee Caffey a wise Marlboro cowboy,  and his grandmother Luella a loving sweet lady.  Combine all these wonderful traits and you have Cousin Frank.  His cousins all benefited from his inherited leadership abilities when he took charge of negotiating the Guernsey oil leases for all of us.   After negotiating a very successful lease, we showed our appreciation with money for his Rolex watch collection.

 Check out those eyes, think there might be a little “orneriness” in this young lad?  My early memory of Frank was when Dorothy Lee brought he and sister Cathy to visit our family.   While we were having a family visit, Frank took Cathy and his cousins into the bedroom and taught them how to make a trampoline out of the kids bed.  When a loud crashing noise came,  Dorothy started looking for a switch (or ball bat).

Frank loved God, his family, his friends and his community.  After graduating from law school in 1989, he married Cherie and was so happy to also get a daughter Heather.  Franks son, Harrison, was born in 1994 on his mother’s birthday.  He cherished spending time with his wife and children, socializing with friends, playing football in the annual Turkey Bowl on Thanksgiving Day, reading, crossword puzzles, riding his bicycle, and OU football (I made a point to never discuss OU/OSU football  with Frank).    He was head of the deacons at Westminster Presbyterian Church at the time of his passing.  Frank was so excited about 2015 –  the year he and Cherie would celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary, Harrison would celebrate his 21st birthday and Frank would have celebrated his 65th birthday,  he so enjoyed life.  Frank is greatly missed by his family, cousins and many friends.

I vowed to keep my blogs short, so I decided to remember Cousin Frank in two parts.  Coming next will be a very witty remembrance of Frank by his sister Cathy .

Jim Lee