RICHMOND, Va. — Frank Carroll Wolfe,
age 88, departed this life on March 27, 2020 in Richmond, Va., due to complications of Lewy Body Dementia.
Born September 28, 1931, in Gillett, Ark., he was the son of Jessie Maud Coffman Wolfe and Rowlett Carroll Wolfe. He graduated from Gillett High School where he excelled on the football field and continued his career at Arkansas A&M College (UAM) graduating in 1953 with a degree in Business and Economics. He was a member of Phi Lambda Chi fraternity and served as president. He married his college sweetheart, Helen Irene Deckelman in 1953 and was honorably discharged from the U.S. Army in 1955.
Frank was a faithful lifetime member of the Gillett United Methodist Church. He served as Adult Sunday School teacher, choir member and chairman of the Administrative Council as well as Monticello District Steward and lay speaker and many other positions. He was also conference chairman of the Board of Global Ministries and was the financial secretary of the Arkansas Methodist Conference in 1987. He served on the board of World Christian Relief Fund traveling to India, Bangladesh, Thailand, Tanzania & Haiti drilling water wells & teaching good irrigation practices. He took volunteers to Haiti for 14 years and traveled with local churches to Rio Bravo, Mexico to build concrete block homes. He was awarded the Jay Lawhon Award at the Methodist Annual Conference for his volunteer efforts.
Frank was also committed to serving his hometown, Gillett. He was a founding member of Planters & Merchants Bank of Gillett where he helped organize and secure a charter in 1967. He served as secretary & later was elected as Chairman of the Board. He served as president of the Gillett School Board, member of the Gillett Fire Department and recipient of the Distinguished Service Award from the Gillett Junior Chamber of Commerce. In the 1960’s, Frank served as secretary of the Board of Commissioners of the Gillett Street Improvement District #1. He was a member & past chairman of Gillett Farmers and Businessmen’s Club. He was a 32nd Degree Mason of Lodge 606 & served as Worshipful Master. Frank supported his alma mater, UAM, by serving on the alumni board as well as president. Additionally, he sat on the DeWitt City Hospital Board and as a director for Farm Bureau.
As a proud rice & soybean farmer, his family received The Farm Family of the Year award in 1966. In 1986, Frank was chosen as having one of the Top 100 Best Managed Farms in the nation by Farm Futures magazine. He was the recipient of the 2014 Arkansas Department of Agriculture Century Farm Owner which recognizes agricultural heritage and families who have owned & farmed the same property for 100 years or more. He also enjoyed duck & deer hunting when he was not actively farming.
After retiring from farming, Frank volunteered his time with the Arkansas County Single Parent Scholarship Fund in addition to exploring his hobbies researching genealogy and the Civil War. He was a valuable source of information, retaining vivid memories of early Gillett & the Grand Prairie.
He was preceded in death by his parents & is survived by his wife, Helen, of 66 years, three children, Debra Helen Wolfe Shea of Dumas, Ark., & Richmond, Va., Mark Frederick Wolfe of Edgewater, Md. & Dana Carroll Wolfe Niemeier (Curtis) of Indialantic, Fla.; his six grandchildren, Sarah Helen Shea Studebaker (Peyton), The Reverend Dr. Thomas McKennon Shea, Jr, (Anna), Michael Henry Wolfe, John Carroll Wolfe, William Jacob Niemeier & Samuel Reade Niemeier; and three great-grandchildren, Jackson Reade Studebaker, Thomas McKennon Shea III & Theodore Matthews Shea.
Frank lived a long life of 88 years, but his list of accomplishments is also long and his impact on church, community & global service, agriculture & banking reveals a life well lived. Farewell, thy good & faithful servant. Out of an abundance of caution during our nation’s current pandemic, a service will be set at a later date. For lasting memorials, the family asks that consideration be given to the Gillett United Methodist Church, P.O. Box 88, Gillett, Ark., 72055 & the Lewy Body Dementia Assn., 912 Killian Hill Road SW, Lilburn, Ga., 30047.