Rick Froncillo

It is difficult to think of Rick without thinking of the character, Rik, in the movie Casablanca. Like the character in that movie, Rick had the same kind of stoicism and self-discipline. Casablanca was one of his favorite, or perhaps his favorite movie. In the movie, Rik, a café owner in Casablanca during WWII, is confronted with a lost love who suddenly appears with her husband, a French resistance fighter. Rik is a man of bitterness and repressed emotions. But in a moment of uncommon and unexpected selflessness, he helps the Ingrid Bergman character, his lost love, escape with her husband. I think that Rick could identify with the Humphrey Bogart character for his no- nonsense and disciplined way of life. In the movie, Captain Renoir of the French police was a rogue and an amoral opportunist, who used his power to issue exit visas to seduce female applicants. As the movie ends, Captain Renoir, having his own emotional conversion, walks off in the night, arm in arm with Rik.

The Rick Froncillo whom I first knew was a young slender, handsome, Italian man in the Air Force who was courting my sister, Beverly. Later when I left for the Army basic training, he warned me to be aware of the floating dice games. After the Army I visited him and Beverly, Julie, and Tony in Connecticut. He showed me the local chicken store. Inside and behind the chicken store, of course, was a thriving bookie joint.

Simply stated, Rick was the most courageous man I have ever known. He never carried a rifle into battle, but faced his afflictions head-on and never let them gain control over his life. He suffered ailments that would have defeated a lesser man. He may have bitterly complained about his afflictions in some down moments, which Beverly would have helped him through. But never did I or anyone else hear him complain or ask for pity. When he was diagnosed with cancer of the palate, the doctors said he would never be able to eat again. He said, “The heck with that”, and forced his cancer to remit and he enjoyed eating again.

Las Vegas was the place for him. Over the years he progressed from a cane to a walker and finally to a powered three-wheeled cart. My wife and nieces would tease him that he had his own Harley Davidson. He went along with the joke. He enjoyed the repartee. He would wheel up to the black jack table, slide himself onto the stool and be content. Then he would slide down into his chair again and would race against time to find a different blackjack table in a different casino. In his low chair, he towered above others, such was his internal strength.

Rick was a true family man and he loved his wife, Beverly, his children, Julie, Tony, and Andrea and doted on his grandchildren.

He wasn’t isolated and bereft of emotion like Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca. Instead, as the movie character does in the end, he had turned such complaints aside. I can just imagine Rick walking off in the night with Captain Renoir. And so, maybe that’s what he has done: walked off into the gathering night on his own terms with new adventures in mind.

Here’s looking at you kid!    Gary Greenup, Brother in law

 He was born in Providence, RI on January 20, 1933 and died on November 8, 2011 at St Anthony Hopsital, St Petersburg, FL.  He was a calculator repair man for Litton Industries, a Catholic and was awarded during his United States AIr Force Career a Korean Service Medal, National Defense Service Medal and a United Nations Service Medal. 

Rick's  funeral service is 9:15 AM, Friday, November 18, 2011 at Bay Pines VA National Cemetery, 10000 Bay Pines Blvd., Bay Pines, Florida 33744 with the Pinellas County Military Honor Guard, officiating.  In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to the Suncoast Hospice in the memory of Riccardo A. Froncillo.

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