Elsie Frank, mother of Massachusetts congressman, dead at 92

Elsie Frank, mother of Massachusetts congressman, dead at 92
By LOLITA C. BALDOR
Associated Press Writer
August 8, 2005

WASHINGTON -- Elsie Frank, the mother of U.S. Rep. Barney Frank and Democratic strategist Ann Lewis, died Sunday in Boston. She was 92.

Recently diagnosed with cancer, she died at Brigham and Women's Hospital, said Steve Adamske, a spokesman for Barney Frank.

Frank, who lived in the city's Back Bay neighborhood, became active in senior citizen issues after getting involved in her son Barney's 1982 re-election campaign, when she was featured in one of his television commercials. She advocated for seniors, urging them to lead active lives.

Born in Bayonne, N.J., she worked as a legal secretary in New York City and later Boston, where she moved in 1973 to be closer to her children.

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Ann Lewis just lost a daughter not too long ago, also.

to have raised two such fine children.

Her legacy lives on, shining brightly through her children. RIP, Elsie Frank... your earthly journey here has ended, but those you leave behind will carry the torch for you.

It doesn't matter how old they are, it sucks to lose a parent. Poor Barn--he is a helluva guy. And yes, she surely had to be a helluva mom, having raised so many fine kids:
Elsie Frank is survived by four children: Lewis, of Chevy Chase, Md., a former White House communications director who is now spokeswoman for Sen. Hillary Clinton's re-election campaign; Barney Frank, a 13-term Democratic congressman from Massachusetts; Doris Breay of Newton, Mass., assistant dean at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University; and David Frank of Arlington, Va., senior vice president at Porter Novelli, a public relations firm.

One very proud parent
Bay Windows
By Ethan Jacobs
Published: Thursday, December 18, 2003

Elsie Frank has a rocking chair in the living room of her Back Bay apartment, but it doesn't get much use.

On Dec. 11 the 91-year-old mother of gay Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank accepted the Voice of Truth Award from Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG). She told the audience that when she was just shy of 70 her family recruited her into her son's 1982 re-election campaign.

"When I accepted the award, I said, 'What Whistler did when his mother got old, he sat her in a rocking chair and painted her picture.' I said, 'What my family did when I was getting old, they made me quit my job and hit the campaign trail.'"

Frank's television ads and speaking engagements played a decisive role in her son's re-election, but politics was only one of the many fields that she's pursued during her so-called retirement years. Frank was president of the Massachusetts Association of Older Americans for 15 years and chaired the advisory council for Boston's Elderly Commission for five years. She co-founded the Commission to End Elder Homelessness in 1991. And her work on behalf of gay rights led PFLAG to honor her with their Voice of Truth lifetime achievement award.

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