Cousin DeLura Ann Kindsfather: Let me begin by saying that the loss of Frankie D leaves a big hole in this family tree.

 From Cousin DeLura Ann Kindsfather: Let me begin by saying that the loss of Frankie D leaves a big hole in this family tree.

I have brief "snapshots" of good times with Frankie while my family was stationed in Germany. And much to our delight, Frankie, a military man himself, was stationed there, too! I was just a child (2-5 yrs. old) while we were in Germany. But I remember Frankie visiting as often as he could, and my brother and sister practically lived for the times he would walk through our door. He was FAMILY! IN GERMANY! And boy did we love our Frankie.

I'm sure Jan and Jakie have recounted plenty of their adventures with him; going all the way back to their childhood summers spent on Mama and Papa's farm in Omaha. To Germany and all through their lives Frankie has remained SO CLOSE to our family. And he has remained SO GOOD to our family.

When something, (anything) happened to my mom or dad, Frankie, Randall, and Norma were ALWAYS the first ones to the hospital. They were always by our side-regardless of the time, location or circumstance.

Frankie, although soft spoken, exuded a certain quiet strength. He was quick to love, quick to hug, and oh, how quick he was to "stand beside."

I have one story to share that was supposed to be a wonderful time on the mountain at my cabin called "HOPE HOUSE." But it turned out to be what might be called the trip from "HELL-o-mama!"

The cast of characters; Frankie, Norma, Aunt Facie, three dogs, two motorcycles, a BIG truck, and an even BIGGER 5th wheel trailer. All arrived in Franklin, NC for an overnight stay. I was thrilled.

I met them "downtown" at the Walmart Plaza parking lot and after hugs and hellos we got down to business. Frank asked, "should I leave the trailer here or is there a place to park it closer to your cabin?" "There's a sizable church parking lot right at the base of my mountain. I'm sure they wouldn't mind if you parked it there for a day and night." "Are the roads ok for me to pull this big thing? And is the parking lot big enough for me to turn around?"

"Well sure it is!" (I had ABSOLUTELY no idea what I was talking about or what Frankie was asking)! And he said, "ARE YOU SURE DELURA ANN?" I thought why in the world is he so darn worried? If I told him that we were going all the way to the top, then we should both be worried! But we're not. So it SHOULD be fine.

There was a mountain storm brewing. And the wind began to blow and carry on as soon as we turned off the highway. It started to sprinkle. Aunt Facie was in the car with me, and we were talking about everything and anything until I looked back and Frankie was flashing his lights. I looked at Facie and said, "I wonder what that means?" Well, by that time he had put on his FLASHERS and was driving in THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD! Well, at that point the road had NEVER looked narrower. The limbs on the trees had NEVER hung any lower, the curves in the road had seemed to MULTIPLY by 10 and the one-lane bridge (YES, ONE-LANE BRIDGE) seemed more impossible than ever to navigate.

Fast forward to the church parking lot: thank goodness it was empty and thank goodness it was big enough! But there was one small problem: a low hanging electrical wire that would catch the trailer and prevent Frank from pulling it around to have it ready to go the next morning. So, in my youth and stupidity, I grabbed a broom, climbed up to the top of the 5th wheel, laid down in the puddles on the roof-flat on my back-used the broom handle to hold the wire above the 5th wheel, my body and my head just enough to give the trailer (and me) room to pass safely under it!

THAT was exciting! And it's about to get even more so.

Fast forward to almost the end of the two-mile drive from the church to the top of the mountain and HOPE HOUSE. My friend Gaye and Aunt Facie had gone up just a few minutes before Frank and Norma and me.

The mild storm at the base of the mountain was vicious at 4000 ft. As I rounded the corner and pulled into my driveway, what I saw was...shocking! A tree had been snapped off halfway down and was sticking out of my front porch roof. And not only that, the was a huge hole in the back porch roof and ceiling that looked-by the shards of metal-as if a bomb went off!

I pulled in the driveway and ran inside and found Gaye and Aunt Facie looking stunned. I was talking to them, but it didn't seem to register. THEY COULD BARELY HEAR ME! THEIR EARS WERE RINGING AND BOTH ACTUALLY LOST PARTIAL HEARING THAT EVENING. What happened? A lightning bolt struck the tree that fell through my front porch roof. The lightning bolt arced from the tree to my wood stove pipe where Facie and Gaye were chatting, warming themselves by the fire. The ensuing sonic boom damaged their hearing, prompting them to run for their lives, the lightning blew through the electrical system, up through the loft, making a catastrophic exit out of the ceiling and roof of the upper porch. In all my years on the mountain, I had NEVER witnessed anything like that! And poor Frank, Norma and Aunt Facie arrived just in time to experience it!

I’m sure they wanted to high-tail it back to Texas! I called for tree removal and turned my thoughts toward the nice dinner I had planned: filet mignons on the grill and baked potatoes. Amid the chaos, I got busy. Amazingly, we never lost power from the lightning strike, although the heaters on one side of the house were fried and the outlets at one of point, had been smoking!

I'm not sure how I grilled the steaks, but we got through dinner, enjoyed the fire in the fireplace (took pictures which I can't find) and laughed and reminisced till late. 

The next day, after a good breakfast and more catching up, we went down the mountain the way we came and with only one minor incident in the church parking lot, they were on their way again.

I'm not sure where the "roads less traveled" took them from Franklin, NC, but I'm pretty sure it couldn't have been any more exciting than the "night they ate filet mignons in HOPE HOUSE, at 4000ft in the sky." AND, oh, by the way, survived a tree that hit the house and a direct lightning bolt that blew THROUGH the house and everybody lived to tell the story!

Thanks Frankie and Norma for a story that went into the annals of HOPE HOUSE history and for an evening I'll NEVER forget! ♥️

I love you guys. And Frankie D, I'll see you soon and very soon...In Beulah land. ❤️