Vondel Smith Mortuary at South Lakes

Funeral Service: 1 PM Saturday May 6, 2017
Location: South Lakes Chapel

On Tuesday, April 25, 2017, God sent two of his best angels known to Frank as Mary and Mama to escort him to his heavenly home. Frank's last moments with us were of him smiling, he shed a tear, and that was his goodbye. He entered this life in Queens, New York on September 12, 1946 as Franklin Alfonzo Antone to Mary Maness and Manuel Antone. Growing up a military brat, Frank got to travel quite a bit, seeing things people only dream of. He visited over half of the United States, and traveled internationally to Germany, France, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, and Austria. Frank and his grandmother he lovingly called "Mama" would stay up late at night to watch wrestling or westerns together, his favorite being Hopalong Cassidy, but his love of baseball would soon be his primary focus. It began at the age of 5 while stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. Not only was he an acolyte at church on the weekends, but he was finally a part of a baseball team while the family was stationed in Dachau, Germany from 1957 to 1959. From then on, wherever he moved with the family, he would make sure he was a part of the school's baseball team. After the family was relocated to Fort Sill, Oklahoma in January of 1959, he lived in Lawton, where he played for Jefferson Elementary School, Central Junior High School and Lawton High School where he set records that still have not been broken. He graduated from LHS in May of 1965, and he immediately had the opportunity to be drafted to the Baltimore Orioles to play baseball professionally, but decided to continue his education and take the scholarship to play baseball at Southwestern Oklahoma State University in Weatherford, Oklahoma. During the summers between school, he would travel to Fairbanks (Fort Wainwright), Alaska where his family was stationed, and even spent the summer of 1967 playing baseball for the Alaska Gold Panners. He experienced his first earthquake while in Alaska, unknowingly accusing his little brother Tony of shaking their bunk beds. Not long after, he survived a major flood in Alaska, having to commandeer a boat to go check on his older sister Mae, his brother-in-law Sam, and their kids several blocks away to make sure they were ok. Back in Oklahoma during the summer of 1968, while hanging out at Pool 1 on Fort Sill, little did he know that he would meet the love of his life. When he saw her, his friend Charlie Duffelmeyer encouraged Frank to go talk to her, and when he finally relented, a shy Anita Elizabeth Shipp immediately thought he was incredibly handsome, respectful, and polite. They instantly hit it off, but before agreeing to marry him, Anita insisted that Frank complete his college education, and after a year-long courtship, they were married in New Post Chapel on Fort Sill September 12, 1969. After honoring her wishes by graduating from SWOSU, and landed his first job as an assistant manager at McDonald's on Cache Road in Lawton, Oklahoma. Not too long after starting his employment there, out of the blue he was given the chance to be one of the United States' first Sky Marshalls where he would again travel the world, and be paid to do so. In 1971, Frank became an investigator for the Office of Federal Investigations, and shortly after accepting that position, in May of 1972, to her doctor's surprise, Anita would give birth to their identical twin sons Jason Anthony and Jeremy Alfonzo. During his 33 year long career as an investigator, meeting all sorts of people and encountering various situations, he never expected what would happen on the morning of April 19, 1995 after arriving to work in downtown Oklahoma City. His office was transitioning from the old federal building to the newer Alfred P. Murrah federal building. Both buildings had a coffee shop located in their respective basements, but on this morning, thankfully, through Divine Intervention, he left the Murrah building suggesting to his co-worker that they get their coffee at the old building's coffee shop. He survived the 7,000 pound Ryder truck bombing of the Murrah building and later recounted the events of that morning noting that he felt the initial vacuum of the detonation, and that it blew the doors off of the old coffee shop. Always active, Frank loved to golf, and after retiring, he had plenty of time to dedicate to his favorite pastime. He decided that since he had the money after working hard all of his life for Anita and the boys, it was his time to get something that he wanted to enjoy, so he invested in a Honda GoldWing trike with room enough for his favorite girl to accompany him on his rides. They shared more than 48 years of marriage together, building a warm and loving home for their family and each other. He loved his family with all of his heart, and he lived his life knowing that all of his blessings came from God. Frank is preceded in death by his Uncle Clinton Murphy Maness (1958), Grandmother Monnie Mae Maness (1966), Mother Mary Neilson Maness Antone (1971), and Kimberly Mae Galpin Antone (2013). He is survived by his: Wife - Anita Elizabeth Shipp Antone of Moore, OK Sons - Jason Antone of Oklahoma City, OK and Jeremy Antone, his fiancée Lisa Malicott, and his daughter Ava of Oklahoma City, OK Father - Manuel Antone of Hampton, GA Sister - Lessie Mae Antone Samuels, her husband Sam, her daughters Leslie Marketa and Claudia, and her son Miguel of Lawton, OK Brother - Tony Antone, his wife DiAnn Bettis Antone, his daughter Tiffany, and his son Tejay of Mansfield, TX Sister - "Little" Mary Antone Johnson, her husband Michael, and her sons Michael Johnson and "Little" Michael Tabb of Hampton, GA Sister - Josephine "Fena" Antone of Dallas, TX Sister-In-Law - Lorraine Shipp English, her husband Frank, and her sons Frank and Matthew of Springfield, MO Sister-In-Law - Delores Shipp McCormick, her husband Wayne, and her daughters Tanya and Angela of Edmond, OK … and lots of loved nieces, nephews, cousins, aunts, uncles, and in-laws in Oklahoma, Texas, North Carolina, Georgia, Rhode Island, Arizona, and Missouri.

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