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Frank Salvatore Camarda
Frank Salvatore Camarda, 91, of
Ipswich, passed away peacefully at the Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial
Veterans Administration Hospital in Bedford on January 14, 2022, weeks shy
of his 92nd birthday.
Frank was born in Norwich, Connecticut on
February 7, 1930, son of the late Francesco and Minnie (Adragua) Camarda.
He was a graduate of the Babylon, New York High School, a member of the
Class of 1949. He attended Humboldt State College, Oregon State College
and the University of Alaska. Cutting short his education, in 1951, Frank
entered the U.S. Army and served his country with the 23rd Infantry
Regiment, Second Infantry Division in combat in the Korean War. He was
honorably discharged in 1953, earning the Combat Infantry Badge, Korean
Service Medal with 3 Bronze Service Stars, and the United Nations Service
Medal. After returning home from the War, Frank worked as a lineman for
the Union Pacific railroad and for several years as a lineman for the
Northern Pacific Railroad. Later, as a Merchant Marine, he worked as a
deck hand on an ore carrier and grain boats on the Great Lakes, and as a
deck hand on an ocean-going freighter until his near fatal illness,
hospitalized with pneumonia in Russia.
Upon retiring, Frank continued to
travel, and had a particular fondness for the transatlantic crossing on
the Queen Mary ocean liner. His wanderlust took him all over Europe, the
UK, Egypt, the Antarctic, Greenland, Thailand, Mexico and Brazil, to name
but a few. At one time, Frank lived in Alaska. He hiked all over the
U.S., including hundreds of miles of the Appalachian Trail. The outdoors
always called to Frank.
His interests and environmental causes
included membership in the Sierra Club, Friends of the Earth, the National
Wildlife Federation, and the Nature Conservancy. He was also a member of
the National Association of Rail Passengers. Frank was passionate about
public transportation and spearheaded the Ipswich Explorer
Bus initiative. He loved taking the train, especially the bullet trains as
they "made him feel like a kid again." He was still plotting and planning
travel right up until the end. He wished to visit his sister, Elaine, in
California and take a National Geographic cruise to the Arctic Circle. Frank was easy
to spot heading into downtown Ipswich on foot with his well-worn hiking
boots and green backpack. He would spend the day reading at the Ipswich
Public Library, and was a fixture at many Ipswich restaurants, as well
as Zumi's Espresso coffeehouse and ice cream bar.
Frank was somewhat aberrant, and that made
him unique, interesting and memorable to all who knew him.
As well as his many friends Frank is
survived by his sister, Elaine Threadgill of Dana Point, California, two
nieces and two cousins.
A celebration of Frank’s life will be held
later this year. Arrangements are under the direction of the
Whittier-Porter Funeral Home of Ipswich.
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