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A tribute to a truly remarkable man, Frank Tyger, my
uncle. I am an extremely proud niece to have an uncle as wonderful as you are. As I was
growing up as a child there are certain things that you never forget. All the visits to
see my Grandma and Uncle Frank at 33 Lincoln Court. It was my second home. (Even today, I
still drive by Lincoln Court and stop and look at the apartment where the Tygers lived. I
feel such a connection there. In my mind I visualize Uncle Frank and Grandma staring out
the window waving goodbye to us as we drove off). I loved going there to see Uncle Frank.
He was always so happy, loving, funny and always full of humor. Whenever I would come to
visit, there was always never ending games of pennyball, (which I loved to beat him at),
taking rides in his big white Chrysler, watching TV, going to the Trenton State Fair, the
Times picnics and of course going to the Trenton Times. He would love to take me there and
give me the tour of the Times which I had quite often. He was very proud of his picture
hanging on the wall of the Times as you walk in the side doors by the parking lot. He
loved to show me that picture everytime we went there. We would stop and just look at it
and he gleamed with pride. Besides his family, the Trenton Times was his life. I remember
my many visits to Grandma around lunchtime and Uncle Frank would be at work and everyday
precisely at 12 noon, Uncle Frank would call Grandma and ask her if he got any mail today.
Then he would proceed to ask her if there was anything in the mail from Readers Digest,
wanting to know if Readers Digest accepted any of his many quotes he would send them. This
went on for years and of course Grandma couldn’t wait to get Uncle Franks call at
lunchtime. Uncle Franks favorite breakfast was Total cereal
and he loved Franks and Beans for either lunch or dinner. He would also be a staple at
Weinsteins Deli for lunch where he would eat a couple of times a week. When he would eat
an egg, he would dissect it and remove the whites of the egg and only eat the yolk. He
loved bagels, but removed all the dough from the inside. Never ate pizza for as long as I
can remember, but eventually learned to really like it. That also goes for many other
foods he never did eat, but then he began to like the many foods he tried. He loved to
watch Jeopardy every evening and answered many of the questions Alex Trebec asked the
contestants. Boy, was I impressed by his outstanding knowledge of many topics. Late night,
his favorite show was Johnny Carson of course. Going back many years before, he liked to
watch the Lawrence Welk show and Ed Sullivan. I remember whenever The Wizard of Oz was on,
I was at Grandma and Uncle Franks house. He loved to watch The Wizard of Oz with me, as
well as Lassie and Sea Hunt. As far as movies on the big screen, Uncle Frank never ever
saw one bad movie. He liked them all. Uncle Frank did love to sing and sang along with
many of the songs he heard. He did love to laugh, and you couldn’t help but laugh
with him. I can distinctly hear that chuckle of his. Many a happy time. Whenever we had
either lunch or dinner together, Uncle Frank would always pull out his pen in his shirt
pocket, grab a napkin and start either drawing or if a quote came into mind, he would jot
it down. He would also always have a piece of paper in his pocket just in case a thought
or a drawing came into mind. When my children Steve and Beth were little, they used to get
a kick out of that! Now that they are grown, that is the one thing they can remember about
Uncle Frank, sitting at the table and having Uncle Frank draw on a napkin!
As years went by, there was one thing that never did change. Uncle
Frank. He is always consistently more concerned about everyone else, more than himself. He
is a caring, gentle, loving, very inquisitive, one-of-a-kind person. Whenever we would be
together he was always full of questions about YOU. Frank Tyger is a great human being,
who is so full of love, laughter, kindness and gentleness. He is a man that would NEVER
hurt a fly. He had not one enemy. He liked EVERY single person for who they were, not
finding fault with ANYONE.
Uncle Frank, I am deeply honored and proud to be your niece and will
cherish every memory of you forever. |
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