SOUTHPORT — Frank Prince O’Brien Jr. died peacefully on Monday morning, Dec. 3, 2018, at the ripe old age of 99 and a half after celebrating Thanksgiving with his family just a few days earlier.
He was born on May 6, 1919, the first child of Frank Prince O’Brien, Sr. and Ida Mae Matthews O’Brien, in the small Richmond County town of Ellerbe. His father was a lifelong banker, and his mother was a homemaker with considerable talent in art and music. When his father took a job with the Federal Reserve Bank, the family moved to Charlotte, where he graduated from Central High School. Like many a North Carolinian, he worked, as a young person, in the tobacco business — in Durham for the Imperial Tobacco Company and in Fairmont at the tobacco auctions.
After moving to Southport, where his father had taken a job with Waccamaw Bank and Trust Co., Frank enjoyed coastal living —rafting the Cape Fear River and surrounds with his brother, hunting alligators with a .22 rifle, and playing the trumpet and saxophone in a pick-up band. He was said to be quite a dancer, too. It was while he was living here that World War II began and he was drafted into the U.S. Army, attaining the rank of sergeant while at Fort Bragg. Friendships made during the Fort Bragg years included Bones McKinney and Jesse Helms, among many others.
In April of 1951, while living in Raleigh and working for the N&O, he met a beautiful young art teacher from Edgecombe County, Sarah White Draughon, whom he married a year later on April 10, 1952. They moved to Wilmington in 1954 and began a family in 1955 with a son, Michael. In 1957, a daughter, Sarah Patricia, was born. Frank adored his wife and family, making sure their lives were as idyllic as possible.
A wizard with words, both spoken and written, Frank spent his life crafting newspaper stories, editorials, press releases, poetry and jingles like this one about golf that appeared in Sports Illustrated in the 1950s:
It’s not my hook;
It’s not my slice;
What peeves me most
is free advice.
Frank’s career as a journalist began at age 19, with a job at the Fairmont Times-Messenger, where he wrote all the news stories and a column. At age 20, with help from an uncle, he landed an apprenticeship with the New York Herald Tribune, but the New York winter soon drove him back to Southport. At this point, World War II interrupted his civilian writing career for three years. After the war, he joined the Wilmington Post as sports editor and became its editor shortly thereafter. In 1948, he joined the News and Observer sports staff in Raleigh, remaining there for seven years. In 1954, he returned to Wilmington as editorial writer for the Star-News, where he remained until starting his own public relations firm in 1965.
As a public relations man, he had a number of clients over the years, including the Azalea Festival (and The Azalea Open), New Hanover Memorial Hospital, Orton Plantation, the Wrightsville Beach Merchants Association, Southeastern Community College and The Battleship U.S.S. North Carolina, to name a few. He loved his days in the newspaper business, but enjoyed the freedom of being self-employed.
During his life in the sports arena, he interviewed heavyweight boxing champions Jack Dempsey, Jimmy Braddock and Jersey Joe Walcott; professional golfers Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer; covered the only Rose Bowl played on the East Coast and Ryder Cup Matches at Pinehurst; and once had a baseball autographed by Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, which, unfortunately, was needed shortly thereafter for a sandlot game!
Not only a sports writer, Frank was a sportsman too. In the middle of a generational line of golfers, Frank was pretty decent with the woods and the irons, but his weapon of choice was the putter — he relished sinking a long one. Throughout his life, many a Saturday or Sunday afternoon was spent on the links — in his early days on public courses around Raleigh with friends and colleagues; in his middle years, at Oak Island Golf Club with his father, his brother and his son; and in his senior years at Cape Fear Country Club with Grace Church buddies Bullock, Shaw and Burns.
For over 65 years, he was a member of Grace United Methodist Church in downtown Wilmington, where he taught both youth and adult Sunday School. Most important, as a man of strong faith, he was present on most Sunday mornings. He also enjoyed the Hanover Seaside Club, Sons of the American Revolution (he was keenly interested in genealogy), and the 21 Club — which he fondly referred to as the “old men’s coffee club.”
Frank is survived by his beloved wife, Sarah White Draughon O’Brien of the home; son, Michael Francis O’Brien of Whitakers; daughter, Sarah Patricia O’Brien of Cary; and three grandsons, Patrick O’Brien Powell of Raleigh, Michael James Powell of Park City, Utah, and Anderson Draughon O’Brien, of Houston, Texas. Though he was 70 when his first grandson was born, and nearly 80 when the last one came along, he loved nothing more than reading to and playing with the boys. He kept up with the progress of their lives, as he loved them dearly.
Also surviving are a niece, Catherine O’Brien Brunjes of Scotts Hill, and a nephew, William Jackson Keith of Whiteville, NC. Preceding him in death were a brother, Eugene Matthews O’Brien of Wilmington; and a sister, Elizabeth O’Brien Ellis of Southport. He also leaves behind innumerable friends from all walks of life. The quintessential Southern gentleman, he was, indeed, hail fellow well met. A partial list of nicknames says it all: Penny, Clincey, Festival Frank, Popsicle, Parson, Prince, Freckles, Red on the Head, and his hands-down favorite — Poppa.
A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m., Monday, Dec. 10, at Grace United Methodist Church in Wilmington. In lieu of flowers, contributions to Grace United Methodist Church or Lower Cape Fear Hospice are greatly appreciated.
Share online condolences with the family at Andrews Mortuary & Crematory.
