U.S. Veteran

Dr. Frank Eshelman died at his home in Platteville, Wisconsin on Sunday, March 5, 2017, at the age of 89. He loved the Lord and lived a life of service.

Funeral services will be 11:00 a.m. Thursday, March 9, 2017 at the Community Evangelical Free Church, Platteville. Rev. Dr. Jim Erb will officiate. A time of fellowship will follow immediately after the service. Burial will be 3:00 p.m. at Rock Lilly Cemetery, Winslow, Illinois, where military rites will be accorded. Friends may call from 9:30 a.m. until the time of service on Thursday at the church. The Melby Funeral Home & Crematory, Platteville, is serving the family. Memorials will be given to Trinity Western University, Camp Timber-lee and missionaries Memduh & Suna Uysal and Paul & Kathy Baum serving in Germany. Online condolences may be made at www.melbyfh.com.

Frank was born in Des Moines, Iowa on May 7, 1927. He came to faith in Jesus Christ at the age of thirteen through the efforts of a neighborhood Child Evangelism ministry and was a faithful servant of the Lord all his life. Frank graduated from Lincoln High School in Des Moines, entered the Navy in 1945, served until the end of WWII, went on to earn a BS in math from Iowa State University where he met Marcene Busjahn, and in 1950 was recalled into the Navy for the Korean Conflict. On August 21, 1953, Frank and Marcene were married in Freeport, IL. The couple honeymooned in Europe on their way to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where Frank taught in the Haile Selassie Secondary school and Marcene in a Welfare School for Women; they worked alongside the missionaries in Ethiopia. Their first two sons, Paul and Steven were born in Ethiopia. After the family returned to the United States in 1956, Frank taught high school math in Stockton and in Rockford, IL where Mark was born. In Cedar Falls, John was born and Frank earned a MS in Physics from the University of Northern Iowa and continued on the faculty. Frank taught Physics at Bethel College in St. Paul, Minnesota, returned to Iowa State University, completed a PhD in Materials Science in 1975, taught Chemistry and Physical Chemistry at Trinity Western College in British Columbia until 1982 and returned to the Midwest as a Materials Science professor in the Engineering department at UW Platteville until his retirement in 1995. During retirement Frank researched and created rigorous chemistry labs in a shoebox-size kit for home and charter school students. The science kits are now being sold by his son John and serve thousands of high school and university students in the United States and overseas. Frank served Jesus Christ with his gentle and loving spirit as he tutored many students during these retirement years, ran intensive science lab workshops for students at Camp Timber-lee and was a sabbatical replacement at Trinity Western College for a year and a half.

Frank had a lifelong love of music. He sang bass in the Iowa State Singers, an Iowa State touring quartet, gospel quartets, church and university choirs, including the Platteville Chorale, and was a soloist at many events. Long car trips were filled with his bass voice booming his favorite gospel hymns. Frank was an active member of the Community Evangelical Free Church, Platteville.

Frank is survived by his devoted wife of sixty-three years, Marcene, his four boys: Paul (Laurel) of Elizabeth, IL, Steven (Susan) of Elmhurst, IL, Mark (Carol) of Old Bridge, NJ, and John (Anita) of Lake George, CO; and grandchildren: Eliot (Jill) Eshelman, Alec (Kate) Eshelman, Hannah (Zach) Marshall, Nathaniel Eshelman, Melinda Eshelman, Mary (Matt) Schuelke, John-Marc Eshelman, Anna Eshelman, Rachel (Matt) Stoll, and Esther Eshelman and five great grandchildren; and sister Annabel Bea, brothers Earl (Carla) Eshelman, Bob (Doris) Eshelman and brother-in-law Bill Hills.

He is preceded in death by his parents Earl and Helen (nee Shackelford) Eshelman and sisters, Ruth Rehbein and Mary Thrasher.

The family is deeply grateful for the kind and loving care given by St. Croix Hospice.

Frank Eshelman

May 07, 1927 - March 05, 2017

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