c. Frank Rampone
1928-2016
Eulogized by his son, David Rampone
HIS LIFE WAS GENTLE AND ELEMENTS SO MIXED IN HIM
THAT NATURE MIGHT STAND UP AND SAY TO ALL THE
WORLD—“THIS WAS A MAN”
SO CALL THE FIELD TO REST AND LETS AWAY
TO PART THE GLORIES OF THIS DAY.
From; The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
Over the past 5 days, our family has received nearly a thousand
emails, sympathy cards, text messages, phone calls and Facebook
posts offering condolences on the passing of our Husband, Dad and
Grandfather. While that might not seem too surprising, what is
surprising is this: The vast majority did not just have a short
condolence message, but instead went on at length on how much
my dad had touched their lives in so many different ways.
And the messages came from an incredibly varied group of people.
Family, friends, golfing buddies of course, but also from friends and
long ago team mates of his children and grandchildren, Physicians
who met my dad during his illness, waiters and waitresses from his
favorite restaurants, business associates and labor unions. And
each with a story of what he meant to them and how proud we
must have been to have him as a father. And we are.
If you ever met Frank Rampone, the chances are pretty good that
you will remember it. Filled with kindness, compassion, a keen
intellect and a wonderful sense of humor, he was blessed with the
ability to connect with people as he found them, and the ability to
converse at length on any topic. All wonderful attributes, but only
the tip of the iceberg in making him the man he was.
At age 55, he bought Hart Engineering Company where he had
been its President. He did it for two reasons. He believed that a
company like Hart, that cared about it’s quality, it’s people and it’s
clients deserved to go on, even in a world where those things
seemed to matter less and less every day. The second reason was
that he loved the idea of working with his sons, and thought it
would be a wonderful opportunity for Paul and I. Acquiring Hart
meant pretty much starting over from scratch, and we did. What
was once a bustling business with many senior level people, became
our Dad and several young guys who as my dad liked to say, “don’t
even know what you don’t know.
It didn’t matter. He knew enough for all of us. And he taught us
with love and caring. He created a document entitled: “THE
HART IDEALS”. It was our bible. It provided us with the
principles we would use for every aspect of our business, from how
we treated each other, to the quality of our work, to the care and
respect for our clients. If you read them carefully, you will come to
realize that it was more than a guide to business, but the right way
to do everything in your life. He lived those tenets, he taught us all
those tenets, and they are indeed the bedrock of the Rampone
family 32 years later and hopefully for generations to come.
As great an accomplishment as that is, it is only a small part of a
much bigger life. At age 70, he took up and mastered digital
photography and videography in order to record the sports events
and major life milestones of all of his grandchildren. He was a
fixture at every field hockey, football, soccer and baseball game his
grandchildren played in. Producing treasured photos and videos
of not only his grandchildren, but their teammates as well. No
game was to minor, or too far away to attend.
Of Course, the Pawtucket Country Club was a major part of Dad’s
life as well. His golfing accomplishments are well known; 6 career
holes in one, winning the club championship at age 53, shooting his
age for the first time at age 66, shooting 65 at age 77, shooting 70 at
age 82, being a Vice President of the RIGA and being a USGA
Committee Member. But for all his golfing prowess, and as much
as he loved the game, as I got older, I realized that it wasn’t the
golf that made him so happy to be at the club. It was the love and
camaraderie he shared with his friends. Whether riding in a cart
with Jim Tanner, or having a drink at the bar with the Chief, or
playing cards after twilight league on Tuesday nights, he delighted
in enjoying two of the best things in life; friendship and humor.
He loved to laugh and to make others laugh as well. As many of
you know, his 53 years at Pawtucket Country Club were briefly
interrupted by what became known to our family as “THE BOAT
YEARS”. The fun and the mishaps that occurred during these two
short years became the stuff of family lore. So much so, that when
my children were young and we were putting them to bed, I would
ask: Are we going to have a story tonight?” When they said yes, I
would go over to the bookcase and start to pick out a book. On
many a night, their response was “No book. Tells us a Papa boat
story!” So with that in mind, I will share this one: On one clear
morning on Narragansett Bay, the boat had been refit with a new
steering cable. Somehow, the cable had been installed backwards, so
that when he tried to steer to the left, the boat went to the right.
Being a trained engineer, he immediately recognized the problem,
and steered the boat into shallow water in order to make the
needed repair. Donning a pair of hip waders, he got into the water
and quickly made the needed repairs. As he attempted to return to
the boat, he bent down a bit in order to jump up into the boat.
Unfortunately, he bent down about one inch too far, and the water
poured in over the top of the waders filling them completely, and
making it impossible to get back into the boat. He was forced to
take them off completely in order to get back into the boat,
drenched from head to toe.
Our dad has left very big shoes to fill. In business, in being a
husband, in raising a family, in being both a gentleman and a
gentle man, in how to treat others and in how to enjoy life, he set
the gold standard. I have followed my dad into many things….
business, Pawtucket Country Club, professional organizations and
union relations. And in every one of them he was the standard of
excellence. We were proud to be his sons.
Over the years, as the next generation has come into the business,
we have passed on Papa’s message on how we conduct our affairs
both large and small. Recently, I had the opportunity to do my
own teaching on this matter to my son and my nephew. And my
message to them was this: What Papa did for all of us is an
amazing thing. We owe him everything. But that is not a debt
you repay with money. It is a debt you repay by making sure that
everything we do in life, in business or in our personal life, is
something Papa would be proud of. And dad, I can promise you
that we are all dedicated to doing just that.