White Haven Loses Prominent Pharmacist.
A memorial service for long-time local pharmacist Thomas Ray Frakes, 74, who died Saturday, will be tonight at 7:30 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church. His family said he died less than a year after being diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's Disease. Frakes and his family moved to Winter Haven in May 1954. "Tom owned and operated the Service Drug Store for the next five years," said his wife, Lois Frakes. That store was on the corner of Third Street and Avenue A, NW, in a building that formerly housed the Bond Clinic. Frakes then bought the H & H Pharmacy, on the southwest corner of Central Avenue and Third Street. According to Carolyn Coon, that pharmacy "used to be the hub of Winter Haven, where men always met to have coffee." In 1964, he opened Frakes Pharmacy on Central Avenue, near Bond Clinc. "When he retired in 1988, he could say with pride that some of his customers had been with him the entire 34 years, "according to the family. His wife added, that "when he had the store, you could call the pharmacist in the middle of the night and he'd fill the prescription. He allowed people to pay for their medications whenever they were able. People still remember him for those acts of kindness." A native of Arkansas, Frakes was raised in Steele, Mo. He entered the U.S. Army Air Corps and after World War II, attended Westminister College in Fulton, Mo. He also attended the St. Louis College of Pharmacy, from which he graduated in 1950. He married Lois Smith of Steele, Mo., and "she was the love of his life." He was a charter member of Parkland Baptist Church, where he was a deacon, Sunday school teacher and choir member. In April 1984, he became an active. member of First Presbyterian Church of Winter Haven. In addition to his wife, Lois, he is survived by his daughters, Vicki Engel of Hollywood and Jill Kosmensky of Winter Haven, a sister, Patti Alexander of Carrollton, Ga. Crisp-Coon Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
