Frank Edwin Colcord

Frank Edwin Colcord of Antioch, California, passed away in the early morning hours of September 30, 2020.  He was 93.

He was born on March 5, 1927 in Montcoal, West Virginia to William Alison Colcord and Helen Kern.  The family eventually relocated to Los Angeles, California.  After serving in the Army Air Corp during World War Two, Frank graduated from Woodbury College with a degree in Accounting.  Young and adventurous, when the Standard Oil Company offered him a job in Saudi Arabia he jumped at the chance.  There he met a vivacious art teacher, Charlene Loebel.  Charlene remembers Frank as very handsome but shy, a rare and welcome combination.  They married and remained happily together for the rest of Frank’s life.

Frank worked with Standard Oil/Chevron for the entirety of his career, transferring to the San Francisco/Walnut Creek/Concord branch of Chevron in 1972.  He administered the Chevron Travel Club for many years.  Although he enjoyed accounting, his real love was his family and he was pleased to retire in 1986.

Witty and self-effacing, Frank charmed everyone he met.  He was happiest basking in the sun with a Diet Coke in his hand and a Robert Ludlum novel on his lap.  He loved basketball, college football and Nascar.   A fervent animal lover, he cared for generations of feral cats.  He loved Frank Sinatra and Big Band music, especially Glen Miller, Benny Goodman and Jimmy Dorsey.   Frank was very creative, and loved building contraptions out of random household detritus.  He could fix anything.  He never missed his sons’ games or his daughter’s plays.  He was a generous listener, but his quiet confident manner ensured that when he spoke people listened.   He was relentlessly funny, and his sense of humor was evident through his last day on earth.  He would throw out a trenchant comment, and then you’d see the twinkle in his eye, the raised eyebrow and the dimples that acknowledged the joke.  His loss has torn a gaping, unfillable hole in his family.  But he was ready to go home, and they accept that.

Preceded in death by his parents, his brother William and his daughter Susan, Frank is survived by his wife Charlene; sons Christopher and Michael; daughter Kathleen; grandchildren Denise Branson, Jackson and Lucas Kartana; Allison and Austin Colcord; great-grandson Hunter Branson; nieces Joanne Toepper and Jenny Streek and nephew Russell Hall. 

Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the family is choosing not to have a funeral at this time.  A Celebration of Life memorial will be planned at a future date.

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