It was a small, but intimate and heartwarming Birthday celebration. Several family members gathered at Reatha and Lloyd Albury's home in Brooksville, Florida, to celebrate Uncle Frank Fuerst's 90th birthday Friday, February 22. A lunch was served at noon followed by a birthday cake later in the day. Guests included Janet (Greene) and L.C. Mack from Michigan, Corky Greene Wofford , Philip and Ingrid DuBose, all from Seffner, Florida; Dodra Pierce, granddaughter of the guest of honor, husband, Tim, and children came in the late afternoon. Oblivious to the all day rain, a BBQ meal of chicken and ribs was served on the screened in porch. It may have been small and informal, but Uncle Frank and Aunt Dorothy enjoyed the celebration very dearly. I know that they will appreciate the birthday cards some of you are sending to their home in Okeechobee, Florida.
Love & Peace,
Philip

THE INCREDIBLE AGELESS UNCLE BY REATHA JOHNS ALBURY

MEETING FRANK FUERST (Pronounced "First")

Dorothy went on a wiener roast at Horseshoe Lake. When she came out of swimming and walked between two cars, a boy she knew who also knew Frank Fuerst, happened to come over to see Frank. So he introduced Dorothy to Frank and Harley Bryant, the two boys sitting in a Dodge car. The boy told Frank and Harley that Dorothy was a girl who couldn’t be kissed. Dorothy couldn’t see where it was any of their business, but said, "He should know as he tried it."

That must have gotten Frank’s interest as he was tired of those girls who were all over him as soon as he went on a date with them.

Dorothy was going steady with Freddie Webster and Monroe. They both tried to get her to quit the other one. Monroe was dull, so Dorothy liked Freddie best as they had a lot in common, such as, art, swimming, and skating. Freddie was a nice decent boy and wasn’t always trying to push himself on her. Freddie was always trying to get her to marry him, but Dorothy wasn’t ready to get married. Dorothy tried to get Freddie to go with other girls since he seemed so anxious to get married, but Freddie didn’t want other girls; he wanted to marry Dorothy. Freddie said, "Why don’t you quit Monroe and go with just me or not go with me at all." Dorothy said, "O.K. I’ll not go with you at all."

Monroe wanted to marry Dorothy too. "Why don’t you quit Freddie and just go with me or not at all." "O.K.", Dorothy said, "I won’t go with you at all." Later Monroe said, "You can go with me anytime you want to."

Jobs were hard to come by in the 1930's. Freddie was unhappy working for Mr. Ronald, as he knew he was such a crook. So when Freddie was offered a cabinet-making job in Palatka, Florida, Dorothy urged him to take it. "There’s no sense in working for a man you are unhappy with if you can get a better job," Dorothy said. So off to Palatka Freddie went.

FLIP OF A COIN

Frank Fuerst and Harley Bryant had a quarter between them. They decided to flip the coin to see if they would spend it for gas and go to Horseshoe Lake. Gasoline was 15 cents a gallon in the 1930's so the quarter would buy almost two gallons.

After talking with the boys for awhile, Dorothy asked them if they’d like a hotdog. Frank wanted to know Dorothy better, so went with her to the bonfire. Dorothy roasted a couple of wieners for them and one for herself. After eating her hotdog, placed in a bun with mustard, she told the boys goodbye and went to her car, a Chrysler. She had invited her sister, Edna, and brother-in-law, Paul, to the wiener roast given by her club. The Twenty Grand Club consisted of 10 boys and 10 girls. This was to be their last outing for the summer. Edna and Paul were sitting in the Chrysler.

There was a girl named Florence Bloom who was unpopular with the boys. She had a shrill laugh, was loud and not very pretty. Dorothy was sure that Florence didn’t know Frank and Harley, but somehow she came to the Chrysler bringing Frank and Harley. After talking with Dorothy for awhile, they left, but were back real soon in the Dodge. Frank parked it next to the Chrysler and called Dorothy over. It wasn’t long before he asked her if her brother-in-law could take her car home. Dorothy said, "I can drive." Frank said, "I thought perhaps we could take you and Florence home." Dorothy said, "No, I don’t think so." Florence, anxious for a date exclaimed, "Oh, let’s do." Dorothy thought Florence must know them, and since they seemed like nice boys and she thought, "Since we will get to my house first, I won’t be alone with two boys." Now Florence would love to be alone with two boys.

Since Florence was unpopular with boys, Dorothy felt sorry for her, so this would be a chance for her to get a date. "But," thought Dorothy, "I get Frank, the best looking one or I won’t go." No problem as Frank had already decided on Dorothy.

Harley got in the back seat with Florence, so Dorothy could sit in the front seat with Frank. When they reached Dorothy’s house which could be seen from the main street, Dorothy said, "Turn here, that’s my house." But no, that sneaky Frank drove right on past it. "Go back!" exclaimed Dorothy, "That’s where I live." Frank kept right on going. Dorothy had told him that Florence lived across from the High School, some three miles past her house. It was also on the way to Frank’s house. It was easy to see that Frank wanted to know Dorothy better as they let Florence out, then had to back track to Dorothy’s house. On arriving there, he drove into Dorothy’s yard and parked.

Frank and Harley invited Dorothy and Florence for a ride on Frank’s boat. Florence was excited about going on a boat ride with them. Now Dorothy was a sympathetic person, so agreed, not so much for getting a boat ride, but to help Florence get a date. Frank and Harley came after them a few nights later and took them to Sandy Point, a muddy bottom sandy shore part of Tampa Bay.

The boys brought a picnic lunch, and Frank had a small Victrola. Frank and Dorothy listened to the records Frank had brought while Harley and Florence took a ride in the boat. When they came back, the motor on the boat wouldn’t start, so Frank and Dorothy continued to listen to the music while Florence and Harley necked.

Dorothy and Florence had three or four more dates with the boys, then Harley dropped Florence. But, Dorothy and Frank continued going together. On their first date, Dorothy showed Frank a picture of her and her first cousin, Dick Burdett, on a motorcycle. Frank says, "I’ll give you a kiss for it." Dorothy smirks, "It belongs to my mother. You can kiss her for it." Frank says, "O.K., when I see her I’ll do that."

Dorothy went on many outings with Frank and his parents. Every January, Frank’s father, brother-in-law and brother went on a camping trip in Pasco County, some 40 miles north of Tampa. They camped, fished and hunted for a week. In January, the Florida weather is nippy, but sunny, so it makes for comfortable walking through the woods. The men put up a tent and they all slept in it together in their camping clothes.

Frank and his brother, Joe, showed Dorothy how to catch flying squirrels. Dorothy took one home and named it Billie. When Dorothy let Billie go in the house, it was impossible to catch him. He sailed from room to room and finally landed in some cold dishwater in the sink. After that she couldn’t get rid of him. Frank laughed, "Now that’s the way you train them. They hate water."

Frank’s brother-in-law, Alfred, bought 30 acres of the Pasco woods. He built a one room cottage on a lake. So when they went hunting, they stayed in the cottage, caught fish in the lake, and went around the lake with flash lights and gigged for frogs.

Frank’s father had heart trouble. Dorothy went to Clearwater and spent the night with Frank’s family in a cottage they had rented. Frank’s father was a cabinet maker. He had his own business, building fine furniture for the wealthy people in Tampa. Frank worked with him. The family took him to Clearwater to get away from his shop, which was next door to his home. Shortly after that he died. Dorothy and Frank were engaged but put off getting married due to the death of Frank’s father.

Due to not having a job, Dorothy felt she couldn’t sponge off of her mother. She didn’t want Frank to pressure her into marriage as they’d have to live with his mother, which she didn’t think was the smart thing to do. Looking in the newspaper, she saw an ad for a traveling sales job which she decided to look into. Since money was so tight during the depression, Dorothy felt so unsettled as her married sisters kept moving in and moving out. Dorothy said, "This family increases and decreases by leaps and bounds." Of course Nellie couldn’t turn any of them away, so Dorothy decided the best thing for everybody was for her to disappear.

Dorothy went on the traveling job, but didn’t like it. Oh, she saw some of the country like Niagara Falls from the American side and the Canadian side. One beautiful sight was a waterfall frozen stiff. After three months, she got pneumonia, and was so sick, she caught a bus and came home. Frank wasn’t home, but Earl Maxon came to the awning shop where Dorothy was helping her mother out. Earl took her to see his mother. On the way, he said, "I thought you loved Frank until you ran out on him." Dorothy said, "I didn’t run out on him, and I’m going to marry him." Earl said, "O.K., if that’s the way it is."

When Dorothy got home, what a difference three months had made. Dorothy’s mother, Nellie, had sold (or rather gave) the house to Pete Franks and Billie . Dorothy’s mother gave her clothes to Frank Fuerst and sold her furniture, which included a glider, a wardrobe, radio, etc. to Sam Franks, Pete’s brother. The house was all torn up and empty. Billie and Pete were moving in. Their mother, Nellie, went into town and moved into a rooming house with a coworker, Mrs. Draughon.

Dorothy stayed with her friend, Irene Willis. Frank’s brother-in-law, Alfred Vogel, repaired a bungalette that was behind their house, and that was where Dorothy’s belongings were. Frank wanted to get married right away. Dorothy moved into the bungalette and painted it up. She went to work at the awning shop and bought furniture for it. Dorothy wanted to wait until September to get married, but Frank didn’t want to wait that long and insisted on getting married in July. So they got married July 29, 1936. Dorothy didn’t want to get married in August. Too Hot.

MARRIED by CANDLELIGHT

Dorothy and Frank had planned on getting married at the home she spent her teenage years in. But, Billie and Pete lived there. The night they were to get married, Billie and Pete’s baby boy, Norman, was sick.

The day of the 29th of July, Dorothy and Frank went to the courthouse and got their marriage license. Frank said, "There’s a church around the corner. Let’s go there and get married." Dorothy remembered how hurt her mother was when Reatha and Ed took Mildred with them and got married at a preacher’s house. Mildred and Harry took Reatha with them and did the same thing. Then she was really hurt was when Thelma and Ray took Dorothy (without her knowledge that they were going to get married) and Frank to Brooksville and got married at a preacher’s house.

"NO!" exclaimed Dorothy. "My mother is going to be at my wedding, whether you are there or not." When Dorothy told her mother, she ordered ice cream.

That settled that. Since Norman was sick and Frank didn’t want to put off getting married, Dorothy and Frank went to an old, unpainted house that had no electricity or running water. Edna and Paul lived there. It was one-half block from the house Billie and Pete lived in. Dorothy and Frank got married by candlelight with only family and a few friends and DOROTHY’S MOTHER. BOY!! Did their getting married like that stir up a stink. Frank’s mother was mad and blamed Dorothy because none of Frank’s family were there. Truth be known--Dorothy kept calling Frank’s mother’s house, but Frank would answer and say, "No use calling as I’ll always answer the phone." "I don’t want my mother there as she will ruin everything." Dorothy didn’t know what he meant by that, but she never got in touch with his mother. Dorothy had been making a white satin dress to wear to a dance. She took the dress to Mildred’s and Mildred sewed a pleated skirt around the bottom.

Mrs. Draughon, a woman who worked at the awning shop, told fortunes using a person’s birth date. When Dorothy told her Frank was born February 22, 1912 and Dorothy was born April 8,1914, she had a fit. "He’s not right for you. It will never work out." So much for fortune telling, as they've been married 65 years.

UNCLE FRANK FUERST WILL BE 90 YEARS OLD FEBRUARY 22, 2002. IF YOU WISH TO CALL HIM OR WRITE TO HIM, HIS ADDRESS & PHONE # ARE IN THE FAMILY ROSTER. IN CASE YOU DO NOT HAVE A ROSTER, SEND E-MAIL TO bryburcon@earthlink.net or to the above link to request information on contacting him. If you have not been a regular contributor to bryburcon.com, please identify yourself and give information on how you are related to Uncle Frank. He has decided to not have a birthday party. His desire on his 90th birthday is to visit family members.

MEMORIES OF FRANK FUERST

Frank Fuerst is my uncle and has been for quite some time. In fact, he and Aunt Dorothy have been married for 65 years. Many times when Lloyd and I would go to visit, all of a sudden, Aunt Dorothy and I would realize the men were not in the house. We did not know when it happened, but they had sneaked out and disappeared into Uncle Frank’s workshop. He had some wonderful woodworking tools and he proudly showed them to Lloyd. He also had built a boat and he was very proud of that. I remember as a child the beautiful four poster bed that he built in the 1940's which graced their bedroom. And it still does, as does a chest of drawers. In just the last couple of years, he finished another four poster bed made out of black mahogany for one of his granddaughters. He is a craftsman in the true sense of the word.

POOR EYESIGHT OR POOR MEMORY

One Sunday afternoon Uncle Frank and Aunt Dorothy came to visit. He was about 79 years old and she was about 76. We were sitting in the living room talking when Aunt Dorothy moved close to me and opened a photograph album she had brought with her. This album was made of pictures taken in the 1920's and early 1930's. As she began to show me the pictures, she would tell who each person in the picture was. It didn’t take long before I realized these were pictures of some of the boys she had dated before she and Uncle Frank married. She stopped at each picture, and would tell something that had happened when she was dating him, including what had happened to cause them to break up. Uncle Frank just sat there listening for the longest time as she went through those memories from long ago. Finally he broke in and said, "With all those boys she dated, I don’t know how she got stuck with me." Exclaimed Aunt Dorothy, "I always said I wouldn’t marry a good looking fella."

Now, not being there personally to see for my self, I cannot vouch for the way Uncle Frank looked when he was young. But all I know is that from the time I first knew him to the present, which has spanned some fifty years, he has always been good looking to me.

SOUNDS GOOD LOOKING TO ME

Some years ago, Aunt Dorothy told me this story. When Frank’s father died, he took over the family business, but he looked so young it was hard to get the customers to trust him. That was until they saw his work. He worked on the furniture, but his father had been the one to give the estimates.

The wealthy people who lived on Davis Island and Bayshore Boulevard were the ones who ordered his work. The business also made furniture for Ward’s Interior Decorators, so some of it wound up in New York. Frank also made some furniture for the Governor’s mansion at the state capital.

One day he went to a house to give an estimate. He heard the lady of the house say, "I called the cabinet shop owner and they sent a kid out." Frank said, "If 28 is a kid, I guess I’m it.

JEWELS

A few years ago, Uncle Frank and Aunt Dorothy had come for a visit. We had been in the living room talking for a while, then Aunt Dorothy and I went to the kitchen. I ask her if I should get Uncle Frank some frozen yogurt. "Frank eats too much junk." she said "I know, Aunt Dorothy," I said, "and he’s only eighty-three." Later when I told him I had offered to get some yogurt for him, but Aunt Dorothy said he didn’t need it, he said. "I wish she would keep her nose out of my business."

Uncle Frank and Aunt Dorothy had decided to take the boat and go to Okeechobee to visit their son Raymond and his wife Sharon. They were about 40 miles from their son’s house and stopped in a little place called ‘Yee Haw Junction’ to get gas. Uncle Frank went inside to pay for the gas when Aunt Dorothy, who had been lying down on the bed in the back of the van, decided to she had better use the restroom. When she came out, and didn’t see the van, she thought he must have moved it away from the pumps. She looked all around the service station, but couldn’t find it. Feeling a little uneasy, she went inside looking for Uncle Frank. Alas, he nor the van were anywhere to be found. "He wouldn’t leave me." she reassured herself. She looked inside the store and then outside some more. Realization set in, "HE HAS LEFT ME!" "Here I am and he’s going on down the road not even aware that I’m not with him." Deciding there was nothing she could do but wait for him to reach Raymond’s, she placed a call to Sharon and told her what had happened. She got a big laugh out of it, as did everyone in the restaurant. When Uncle Frank pulled up to Raymond’s house nearly an hour later, Sharon asked, "Where’s Dot?" "She’s in the back lying down." Uncle Frank said. "Oh, no she isn’t" she replied with a chuckle. Not believing this had happened, Uncle Frank opened the door of the van and peered in. Sure enough, NO DOT. Sharon went back to Yee Haw Junction to pick her up. Aunt Dorothy laughs about it now as she tells it, but at the time, it was not very funny. Some time later at a family gathering as Aunt Dorothy was relating this story, Uncle Frank just stood there listening. "And we had recently seen something like this on TV.," she said. Turning to Uncle Frank, I said, "That’s where you got the idea, wasn’t it?" He winked at me as he put his finger to his lips.

______________________________________________________________________________

Recently Uncle Frank and Aunt Dorothy came by on their way to the granddaughter’s house. As I opened the door, Aunt Dorothy brushed by me, went straight to the couch, held her head, and said, "I’m sick." Concerned, I began to question her, trying to find out if maybe she had a virus. "It’s riding with Frank," she said, still holding her head. I got her some cold water, and talked to her and after a while she began to feel some better. The next day, I rode with them over the hills and through the woods to buy some honey. She likes to buy several gallons when she is here as it’s a lot cheaper than she can get at home. On that ride we only saw about four cars as it was on back roads, but I understood what she meant.

Not having any girls, I guess Uncle Frank felt somewhat awkward hugging the nieces. After I reached a ripe age of maturity, I began to hug him and Aunt Dorothy when they came to see us. At first, he just stood there, not knowing how to react. Now, however, when I hug him, he hugs me back.

FRANK JOHN FUERST

Frank John Fuerst was born February 22, 1912 at Copley, , Pennsylvania. He was the fourth child born to Frank John and Johanna Fuerst. He was the first boy, so his father taught him the furniture trade. The name Furst is of royalty in Europe and was spelled Furst. His father was born in Austria and his mother in Vienna, Austria. He had two brothers: Joe and Johnnie, and four sisters: Emma, Gisella, Justina and Marie.

After the war broke out in 1914, because the Fuersts spoke German the people began to treat them differently, thinking they were Germans. For this reason, Frank’s father built a housecar and moved his family to Florida in 1921. Frank was nine years old at the time. The family stopped in Jacksonville, Florida, before coming to Tampa. The hurricane of 1921 stormed up the Gulf of Mexico and came ashore at Tampa while they were in Jacksonville

When the Fuerst family arrived in Tampa, they stayed in Desoto Park on McKay Bay. This was a camp set up for people coming from other states to stay in until they could find a place to live. They were called, "Tin Can Tourists". The reason they were called that was because they hung a little milk can from the bar on the front that went between the headlights of the car. They also had to put a little flag on the front of the car that read, "TCT", signifying they belonged in the camp. Years later, Frank and Dorothy realized they had been in the camp at the same time when they talked about the "Tom thumb Wedding" that Grandma had the kids perform. He remembered Bud Burdett (who was between one and two years old) running across the stage, hollering EEEEOOOO, EEEEEOOOOO.

Frank’s father built a cabinet shop in Palma Ceia. The day before the stock market crash of 1929, he withdrew most of his money from the bank to enlarge his shop. Even though the market crashed, he went ahead and added on to the shop, but business was very bad. Frank’s father died in 1935 at the age of 56. Frank, who had worked with him, took over the shop and continued to make and repair expensive furniture until 1966 after his mother’s death.

After he sold the shop, he went to work for Gulfstar, a business in St. Petersburg that built yachts. He was supervisor of the woodworking department. He retired from Gulfstar in 1977, at the age of 65. While working there, he designed a tool to cut molding that had an intricate pattern. They had been doing it by hand and it took about an hour to make one. After he made the tool, they could make enough of the moldings in one hour for a cabinet. This tool cut each one so perfectly that no sanding was needed. The moldings was designed to go around a cabinet on the boats which held drinks and glasses.

Frank also taught the other men how to laminate thin strips of teakwood to form rounded tops for door jams. The wood was cut in strips so it could bend into round door jams. He was converting an idea for a special purpose. The rounded tops on doors were better adapted to ships.

Frank and Dorothy Fuerst were married July 29, 1936, in Tampa, Florida. They had three sons: Raymond, Larry, and Vernon Dale. They lived on Hillsborough Avenue east of Eisenhower Boulevard from 1941 to 1960. At that time, the airport purchased their home and land, and they bought nine acres on Hillsborough Avenue West and Double Branch Creek. Frank designed and built the house in 1961. At that time, the stretch of Hillsborough Avenue from Memorial Highway to Oldsmar was sparsely populated. Now it is so heavily built with apartment complexes and homes that the traffic is so bad that Frank and Dorothy have, at times, waited 20 to 30 minutes to pull out of their driveway onto the highway. While their boys were still at home, Frank built a 14 foot Run-a-Bout. Later he built a cabin cruiser, and he and Aunt Dorothy went on many Boat A- Cades around Florida.

In 1996, Frank and Dorothy once again had to leave their home and move. This time the State Road Department bought their place to widen Hillsborough Avenue and make a larger place for water run off. They decided to move to be near their eldest son, Raymond.

Through the years, there have been many enjoyable visits with Uncle Frank and Aunt Dorothy. While they were still living in Oldsmar on Hillsborough Avenue, Lloyd and I went for a visit for the express purpose of recording and writing stories from them. While we were sitting at the kitchen table, I let Aunt Dorothy know that we wanted stories from Uncle Frank. I began with asking a question or two and that was all it took. I stealthily moved my hand and turned on the tape recorder about this time. He talked for some time and when he would slow down, Lloyd or I would pose another question to get him going again. This had been going on for some time, when he focused on the tape recorder with a suspicious look and said, "That things not on, is it?" I saw him blush a little and believe I may have told a lie at that time, but he continued to talk. I am so glad we went that day, as I learned so much about Uncle Frank that I had never known before.