Zimmie Frank - Football mom was always there to support her home team: Newspaper Obituary and Death Notice
Huntsville Times, The (AL) - Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Deceased Name: Zimmie Frank - Football mom was always there to support her home team
Life Stories - Zimmie Frank loved family, was big part of success

It's a good thing Zimmie Frank liked football.

As the wife of Milton Frank, the legendary Huntsville High School football coach, and the mother of two sons who played for Paul "Bear" Bryant in his early years at the University of Alabama, Zimmie sat in the bleachers for what could've felt like a thousand football games.

But the Polish immigrant loved her family and supported them in everything they did, even when it meant football game after football game after football game.

"It was one of those things where you don't realize how much your parents sacrifice for you until you're grown up and have children of your own," said Dr. Milton "Butch" Frank III of his mother, who died in Atlanta last week at the age of 95.

"Mother was there for every game. The difficult thing was my father was so successful at Huntsville High, the fans got pretty spoiled. She'd hear them grumbling in the bleachers if they lost more than one game a season."

Indeed. Frank said his father was 99-13-11 during his tenure at Huntsville High. His record, as well as his reputation, inspired the city to name one of its prime football sites Milton Frank Stadium. Even though it's his father's name that's most associated with football and Huntsville, Zimmie was right there for all of it.

Frank said his mother's family came to Chattanooga from Poland in 1914. Shortly afterward, they moved to Knoxville, and Zimmie was a high school cheerleader. In 1930, she met Milton Frank II when he was on a football scholarship at the University of Tennessee - playing for the legendary Robert Neyland - and she was dating one of his friends.

"Well, my father ran him off, and she began dating someone else, and he ran him off, too," Frank said. "Mother said because he kept running off her boyfriends, she had to marry him."

After college graduation, the newlyweds came to a then-tiny Huntsville in 1934, where Milton Frank had no assistant coaches or trainers. Butch Frank said if anyone got hurt, his father rubbed them down with homemade liniment, and his mother often fed team members.

From his first season on, the coach produced, "some pretty darn good teams."

During World War II, Frank's father stopped teaching physical education at Huntsville High so that he could be a foreman on a munitions line at Redstone Arsenal, where B-26 bombs were made.

"It was dangerous work," Frank said. "There were explosions sometimes. He got burned several times."

And he kept coaching football when his bomb-making shift was over.

After the war, Zimmie worked at the arsenal, too, serving as one of the secretaries for the commanding colonel. Also after the war, the football coach went into the jewelry business with his two younger brothers.

The Frank family bought three jewelry stores - in Huntsville, Decatur and Pulaski, Tenn. - from a man in Meridian, Miss. They were all called Rose Jewelry and Zimmie jumped in to help make them successful.

Son Buster went on to become a community leader and real estate force. Both sons went to the University of Alabama on football scholarships, with the elder son - a cardiologist in Atlanta - being on Bryant's first Crimson Tide team.
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Zimmie W. Frank: Newspaper Obituary and Death Notice
Huntsville Times, The (AL) - Thursday, January 11, 2007
Deceased Name: Zimmie W. Frank
Died Jan. 10, 2007

Zimmie W. Frank, 95, of Atlanta died Wednesday.

Mrs. Frank was raised in Knoxville. Following her marriage to Milton Frank Jr., head football coach at Huntsville High School, in 1934, she moved to Huntsville, where she lived until 1992.

Zimmie, along with her husband and his brothers owned and operated Rose's Jewelry Store in the Historic Square in Huntsville. She was active in Democratic Party, many civic clubs, was an active Gray Lady, active with the Red Cross, President of B'nai Shalom Sisterhood, member of the Altrusa International and was a collector of many early American antiques.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Milton Frank Jr., and her son, Morris "Buster" Frank.

She is survived by her son, Dr. Milton "Butch" Frank III and wife, Cookie Arnovitz Frank; grandchildren, Amy Sue and Neal Maziar of Atlanta, Milton "Buddy" Frank IV of Creststone, Colo., Dr. Steven Frank and wife, Dr. Ivy Frank, of Houston, Mark and Stacy Frank of Atlanta, and Melissa "Missy" Frank of Atlanta; and great-grandchildren, Megan and Jake Maziar, Hailey Jane Frank, Madelyn Sophia Frank and Olivia Frank.

Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. Friday at Congregation B'nai Shalom. Interment will follow at Maple Hill Cemetery with Laughlin Service Funeral Home directing.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Weinstein Hospice, 3150 Howell Mill Road, Atlanta, GA 30327 or Congregation B'nai Shalom, 103 Lincoln St., Huntsville, AL 35801.

Zimmie Frank - Football mom was always there to support her home team: Newspaper Obituary and Death Notice
Huntsville Times, The (AL) - Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Deceased Name: Zimmie Frank - Football mom was always there to support her home team
Life Stories - Zimmie Frank loved family, was big part of success

It's a good thing Zimmie Frank liked football.

As the wife of Milton Frank, the legendary Huntsville High School football coach, and the mother of two sons who played for Paul "Bear" Bryant in his early years at the University of Alabama, Zimmie sat in the bleachers for what could've felt like a thousand football games.

But the Polish immigrant loved her family and supported them in everything they did, even when it meant football game after football game after football game.

"It was one of those things where you don't realize how much your parents sacrifice for you until you're grown up and have children of your own," said Dr. Milton "Butch" Frank III of his mother, who died in Atlanta last week at the age of 95.

"Mother was there for every game. The difficult thing was my father was so successful at Huntsville High, the fans got pretty spoiled. She'd hear them grumbling in the bleachers if they lost more than one game a season."

Indeed. Frank said his father was 99-13-11 during his tenure at Huntsville High. His record, as well as his reputation, inspired the city to name one of its prime football sites Milton Frank Stadium. Even though it's his father's name that's most associated with football and Huntsville, Zimmie was right there for all of it.

Frank said his mother's family came to Chattanooga from Poland in 1914. Shortly afterward, they moved to Knoxville, and Zimmie was a high school cheerleader. In 1930, she met Milton Frank II when he was on a football scholarship at the University of Tennessee - playing for the legendary Robert Neyland - and she was dating one of his friends.

"Well, my father ran him off, and she began dating someone else, and he ran him off, too," Frank said. "Mother said because he kept running off her boyfriends, she had to marry him."

After college graduation, the newlyweds came to a then-tiny Huntsville in 1934, where Milton Frank had no assistant coaches or trainers. Butch Frank said if anyone got hurt, his father rubbed them down with homemade liniment, and his mother often fed team members.

From his first season on, the coach produced, "some pretty darn good teams."

During World War II, Frank's father stopped teaching physical education at Huntsville High so that he could be a foreman on a munitions line at Redstone Arsenal, where B-26 bombs were made.

"It was dangerous work," Frank said. "There were explosions sometimes. He got burned several times."

And he kept coaching football when his bomb-making shift was over.

After the war, Zimmie worked at the arsenal, too, serving as one of the secretaries for the commanding colonel. Also after the war, the football coach went into the jewelry business with his two younger brothers.

The Frank family bought three jewelry stores - in Huntsville, Decatur and Pulaski, Tenn. - from a man in Meridian, Miss. They were all called Rose Jewelry and Zimmie jumped in to help make them successful.

Son Buster went on to become a community leader and real estate force. Both sons went to the University of Alabama on football scholarships, with the elder son - a cardiologist in Atlanta - being on Bryant's first Crimson Tide team.
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Zimmie W. Frank: Newspaper Obituary and Death Notice
Huntsville Times, The (AL) - Thursday, January 11, 2007
Deceased Name: Zimmie W. Frank
Died Jan. 10, 2007

Zimmie W. Frank, 95, of Atlanta died Wednesday.

Mrs. Frank was raised in Knoxville. Following her marriage to Milton Frank Jr., head football coach at Huntsville High School, in 1934, she moved to Huntsville, where she lived until 1992.

Zimmie, along with her husband and his brothers owned and operated Rose's Jewelry Store in the Historic Square in Huntsville. She was active in Democratic Party, many civic clubs, was an active Gray Lady, active with the Red Cross, President of B'nai Shalom Sisterhood, member of the Altrusa International and was a collector of many early American antiques.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Milton Frank Jr., and her son, Morris "Buster" Frank.

She is survived by her son, Dr. Milton "Butch" Frank III and wife, Cookie Arnovitz Frank; grandchildren, Amy Sue and Neal Maziar of Atlanta, Milton "Buddy" Frank IV of Creststone, Colo., Dr. Steven Frank and wife, Dr. Ivy Frank, of Houston, Mark and Stacy Frank of Atlanta, and Melissa "Missy" Frank of Atlanta; and great-grandchildren, Megan and Jake Maziar, Hailey Jane Frank, Madelyn Sophia Frank and Olivia Frank.

Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. Friday at Congregation B'nai Shalom. Interment will follow at Maple Hill Cemetery with Laughlin Service Funeral Home directing.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Weinstein Hospice, 3150 Howell Mill Road, Atlanta, GA 30327 or Congregation B'nai Shalom, 103 Lincoln St., Huntsville, AL 35801.