Asbury Veteran: Frank Rapp

 

 

Frank Rapp, member of Asbury since 1969, was born and raised in South Philadelphia, PA. He was christened in the German Presbyterian Church in South Philadelphia where his parents attended as children and were married.

 

At South Philadelphia High for boys, Frank made the baseball team but had to quit the team due to the passing of his father. He had to help his mother and brothers in their grocery store. He graduated in 1943. His first job was with the New York Ship Yard in Camden, NJ as an office boy, making $17.54 a week in the drafting room.

 

Frank was drafted into the Navy in 1944, spent time in the Pacific aboard a carrier escort for the US Nassau CVE 16, and was discharged in 1946.

 

In 1947 Frank married Dorothy and continued to live in South Philadelphia where he spent 3 ½ years at Drexel Institute of Technology. The had two sons, Frank Jr. who lives with his wife and two children in Maine, and Mark who lives at home with Frank in Cinnaminson.

 

Frank has lived in the same house since the family moved to Cinnaminson in 1950. He continued to work in drafting. His last job was at General Electric in Camden until his retirement in 1993. Dorothy passed away in January, 1995.

 

In addition to volunteering at Asbury over the years, Frank was also a member of the Cinnaminson Parks and Recreation Committee, 1960-1970, as well as belonging to the Masonic fraternity since 1953.

 

Currently Frank can be found at his winter home in Laguna Woods, California.