Cast of Characters, Part 3:

Frank Sanchez

     Pine Mountain Club is not incorporated as a city— no city council, etc., although it does have a quasi-government of sorts in the POA. But it DID have a Mayor (honorary, at least) for a time. Although he never sought the title, once it was bestowed on him, kiddingly of course, he reveled in it! 

     Frank (Frankie to those who knew him) was a Master Plumber by trade, and came with wife Kathy, daughter Marisa, and mother-in-law Barbara  French, to PMC in the early ‘70’s. Barbara moved in permanently, and Frank built her a house, big enough for the whole family, on Mil Potrero Frontage Rd., a block from the Village Center. The house had six bedrooms. We always teased them that the house was actually designed as a brothel, with Barbara as the Madam. If you knew Barbara, you understood why she loved to be kidded about that! She could take it, and boy, could she dish it out!

     About the time the big house was complete, Timberland Development (Mike Stone and Mike Steele), built a large commercial building on Pine Valley Lane, behind the Auto Center. Frank and Kathy opened Country Hardware on the lower level, that fronted on the lane between the two buildings. Kathy ran the store, and Frank began doing plumbing work locally. Frank loved being involved in local goings-on, and wasn’t afraid to speak his mind, even if his ideas were contrary to the status quo. The animosity between the Commercial Association and the PMCPOA had increased during his time as President of the PMC-CPOA ( see “Tale of Two CID’s previously published) and he jumped into the fray with both feet. Things ultimately worked out for the better. For some years, Frank chaired the Lilac Festival Committee, and organized the first of many Christmas Parades and Winter Festivals in the Village. Frankie was always around, it seemed. He was always willing to tell anyone and everyone about Pine Mountain Club, the golf course, and the happenings in the Village Center. Inevitably, his gregariousness earned him the honorary title of “Mayor.”

    Frank was an avid golfer, playing 18 or mores holes of golf on the PMC course almost every day, even when the fairways were covered in snow. When he was still a weekender, he dressed for golf to the max (for the ‘70’s) : tailored qiana shirt, polyester bell-bottom slacks, with white golf shoes. And the hair— a true Latino coif that Desi Arnaz would have envied, but salt and pepper, like Fernando Lamas. At some point after he became a permanent resident, the outfit changed to Levis and  Garth Brooks-style snap-buttoned shirt, cowboy boots and black cowboy hat. And the hair grew long, ultimately to shoulder length, and over the ensuing years, to snow white. Frank was not a tall man—-the white mane plus the outfit plus his short stature made him unmistakable even from a distance! 

     Frank could be persistent to a fault, but his passion about things that bothered him, and about how things could be, or should be, ultimately helped make Pine Mountain Club a better place, even though a few POA Board directors and several General Managers didn’t always see it that way! The term “PITA” comes to mind…

     Frank left his mark in other ways in PMC, too. Along with then-wife Kathy, he oversaw the construction of the large two-story commercial building on Pine Valley Lane that became the new larger home of Country Hardware, and several other businesses, and the triplex on Askin Drive across the street from Lampkin Park.

     Frank was a veteran, serving during the Korean War, and as such was very active in veterans affairs. His work truck and his golf cart always had a US flag attached, flapping in the breeze as he drove around. He personally installed a big flag pole in the Village, lighted at night, so the Star Spangled Banner could be seen there night and day. He organized Flag Day and Armed Forces celebrations every year, and almost single-handedly built a Veterans Memorial at the County Park in Frazier Park, and a smaller version in PMC by the Village Gazebo. Both installations included a special memorial dedicated to Staff Sgt. Brian Cody Prosser, of Frazier Park, one of the first casualties of the War on terror, who was killed in Afghanistan in December, 2001. With some irony, Frank was born in 1938, on September 11. Frank lost his battle with cancer on January 7, 2013.

     There was much more to the man than I have the space to detail here. We didn’t always get along. We were often on opposite sides of local issues, but we always remained friends, and loved each other’s families. Many, many people knew him, and I’m sure this story will prompt a lot of them to add to the saga of Frankie Sanchez.