Francis “Frank” Henry Bekkers was born February 27, 1938 to Albert and Waltera (VanNuland) Bekkers in Combined Locks, WI. As a child, Frank grew up on a farm in Freedom and attended St. Nicholas School and later Freedom High school. Upon graduating, he entered the Air Force and served in Amarillo, TX as a weatherman. He later attended school in Englewood, CA for airline mechanics. Frank worked for North Central Airlines, Republic Airlines and Northwest Airlines while being stationed in Minneapolis, Detroit, Chicago, Green Bay and Milwaukee until he retired in 1993.
On September 10, 1964, Frank married Judy Hendricks, the “girl next door”, and together they raised three children on the family farm. Besides commuting to work for the airlines, Frank started multiple small business, including a storage shed, an excavational grading business, and finally, a custom harvest combining business. Frank was passionate about supporting St. Nicholas Church and St. Nicholas School.
Frank is preceded in death by parents Waltera (Albert) Bekkers, bothers Peter Bekkers, John Bekkers, Albert Bekkers, sister Harriet Berg, mother- and father-in-law Edward and Gladys (Green) Hendricks, brothers-in-law Robert Schumacher, James Hendricks, sister-in-law Deborah Hendricks, son-in-law Jerry Graham. He is survived by his wife Judy, daughters Kelly Bekkers-Graham, Kim Hermans, son David Bekkers, grand-daughters Christine Hermans and Danielle Hermans and great-granddaughter Sofia Webb. He is further survived by sisters Sister Marie Alberta (Wilhelmina) Bekkers, Ann Schumacher, Margaret (Thomas) Feavel, Mary Bekkers, Pauline (Roy) Vandenberg, sisters-in-law Carol Bekkers, Bev Bekkers, Ellen (James) Lutz and brother-in-law Gene Berg and many nephews and nieces.
Visitation will be Friday November 25th, 2022 at St. Nicholas Church, Freedom from 11:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. The Mass will be at 1:00 p.m. with Fr. Robert Chinnapan officiating and burial at the St. Nicholas Cemetery. The service will be live streamed on the parish website https://youtu.be/wpV5__ysiro for those who are unable to attend.
In addition, Frank and Judy have been blessed with many close friends over the years. The family would like to acknowledge neighbors Steve and Doris Schuh family, Gary and Shelly Vanness, Ed and Karen Krejcie family for their help over the years which made it possible for Frank and Judy to remain on the “family farm” that he loved.
We would like to express our gratitude to Dr. Joyce Bauer for her unwavering dedication and patience in caring for Frank over the years. We are also thankful to the ThedaCare Medical Center-Appleton Emergency department, Towns of Freedom and Center first responders, Outagamie County Sherrif department, and Gold Cross Ambulance for their professional compassion.
To send flowers
to the family, please visit our floral store.