Raymond H. Frank, a former construction worker and one-time employee at Earl W. Noyes & Sons Moving Specialists, died of a heart attack early Sunday morning.
His family called him a loving father and loyal friend.
He was 63.
“I can’t imagine my life without him in it,” said Amanda Shaw, his 22-year-old daughter. “This is really hard. He was always just a phone call away. He would do anything for me. Now I don’t have that.”
Mr. Frank’s body was found in the street near 30 Skyline St. around 5 a.m. Sunday by a carrier for the Maine Sunday Telegram. His unclothed body was in the street in front of the home where he lived with his father. His father was not home at the time.
Family members said Wednesday that they didn’t know why Mr. Frank was wearing almost no clothing. Shaw believes her father may have taken off his clothes after suffering the heart attack and walked outside to cool off and seek help.
“I think he went down to the end of the driveway to get help and he passed out,” Shaw said. “I don’t know.”
Mr. Frank grew up in Portland, the oldest of six children. He was the son of Raymond G. Frank and the late Shirley Frank, who died Sept. 25, 2015.
He left school around the seventh grade and went to work soon after.
In his early years, Mr. Frank worked for Earle W. Noyes & Sons Moving Specialists in Portland. His father thinks his son worked there for more than a decade.
Mr. Frank also worked in construction and at Pavement Treatments, Inc. in Scarborough. He retired around 2008.
“He helped a lot of people,” his daughter said “He was really caring. If anyone asked him for anything, he was there.”
Mr. Frank never married. He raised his daughter with her mother, Sue Shaw of Gorham, his girlfriend for 14 years. Frank helped Shaw raise her son as well.
“He always made sure the kids had what they needed,” his former girlfriend said. “I can’t believe this happened to him. He was awfully young.”
His daughter said he was always there for her.
“I was in Virginia one time for a week visiting a friend. I got homesick. I called him at midnight and asked him to come pick me up. He jumped in the car and came and got me.”
The night before he died, Mr. Frank was with his father at the Eagles Club playing pool. He left early and called his daughter when he got home.
“He said ‘I’ll talk to you tomorrow,’ ” his daughter recalled. “He said he was going to get me an Easter bunny. He said, ‘I love you,’ and that was it. I’ll miss his phone calls at night.”
Melanie Creamer can be contacted at 791-6361 or at:
Twitter: MelanieCreamer
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