Calvin Frogge (1925-2015) - Illinois Farmer, WWII Naval Aviator and Catholic Gentleman to the Backbone Goes Home to Christ

Calvin Frogge was a pure Illinois Man of the Soil. He suffered no fools gladly, but took them to his heart with charity little found in our current cynical days. Calvin farmed.  He farmed before and after flying for the U.S. Navy in WWII.
 
After the war Calvin had the good sense to woo one of the beautiful McCue girls and the good fortune to manage an 'OK' to his offer of marriage. Calvin and Marietta raised two very talented sons.  Calvin lost his pal and bride, Marietta a few years ago and had been in poor health.  I know that he nearly wore out the kneelers at St. Anne Shrine in St. Anne and also St.Mary's Beaverville.

At weddings and family gatherings, this son of French voyageurs and resident of Martinon, Illinois was last man off the dance floor and usually last man standing. Calvin was never a gabby man, but he was always a witty man and given to rustic saws like , It's colder than a mother-in-law's kiss! and rainin' harder'n a cow peein' on a flat rock!

Calvin was a sweet tempered man, who laughed with the sun rise and got out into the cornrows and got things done.  He specialized in growing pop corn for Popeye PopCorn and knew how to rotate his fields for just the right yield for soybeans to confound the digital grains futures street board on the main drag of Watseka.

My prayers and sympathies to Jim and Margaret Frogge and Jim's brother Tom and grandkids, Jessica, Sarah and Nathan Frogge for the loss of this great man.

They are not growing them like Calvin anymore. 

God Welcomes Home Marietta Frogge - Martinton, Illinois

Calvin Frogge was a WWII Naval Aviator and after the War he wooed Marietta McCue - Marietta took to Calvin's wooing. These two young Martinton, Illinois kids married and raised two boys on a small farm in Iroquois County, Illinois.

Calvin raised acres of popcorn for Popeye Brand Popcorn and worked as a machinist. Marietta raised the boys, took the piglets into the home in winter, worked the fields, detasseled, cooked for, washed and fed the three men. Everyone went to Mass and everyone prayed on their knees. This was French French Catholic Illinois and only a hectare or two from the Dutch Calvinists in Wichert,IL and the Dutch could break an anvil with prayer.

Marietta and Calvin raised Jim and Tom. Jim and Tom became Catholic High School school teachers and coaches. Both Jim and Tom were standout athletes at Bishop McNamara High School in Kankakee, Illinois. Jim went on to Yale and played football with Brian Dowling and Dick Jauron and was coached by ABC Sportscaster Tim Weigel and then returned to coach and teach Physics and Chemistry at Bishop Mac. Tom went to John Carroll and taught English and coached at Bishop McNicholas High School in Cincinnati, OH.

Calvin and Marietta operated a small farm near the Indiana State line and went to dances at the Knights of Columbus and they acted like the teenagers who fell in love with one another for sixty years. This, I witnessed.

Calvin and Marietta always held hands; always hugged; there was always a tactile recognition of the power and force of the love between them. At weddings and baptisms Calvin was never more than a hand span away from his girl Marietta - Marietta McCue.

At my wedding, in the Knights of Columbus Hall in Kankakee, attended by three hundred members of my family and more than two hundred folks from Kankakee and Iroquois Counties, Calvin and Marietta were about the very last to leave and helped me and Charlie Olson and my brother Kevin load up the gifts and arrange rides for the over served.

Calvin and Marietta were devoted to one another and they were best pals.

Marietta went home to Christ on Monday night in a skilled care facility in Danforth, IL. Calvin is having a very tough time. I lost my best pal in 1998 and it is tough, but God never gives us more than we can handle. Calvin is a tough, wiry Illinois Dirt Farmer, but Calvin managed to woo Marietta McCue.

God grant Calvin Peace. Marietta, as with all women, is way ahead of you, Calvin!