He was born in Middletown, NY to Raymond and Inez(Merritt) Frink. After graduating from Middletown High School in 1956, he was awarded the opportunity to spend a year in the Netherlands as an exchange student. After returning from the Netherlands, he graduated from Orange County Community College with an AS degree. He went on to serve in the U.S. Navy, deployed on the USS Brush in the South China Sea and Tonkin Gulf during the Vietnam war. He was an avid member of the Tin Can Sailors veterans’ group and looked forward every year to his Navy reunions. After returning from service, he was employed by IBM in New York City and Control Data in Greenwich CT. After retirement from the corporate world, he pursued his passion of trains and moved across the country to Carson City, Nevada, ultimately working at his dream job at the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Carson City.
John was an avid train enthusiast since childhood, growing up next door to his grandfather, who was a conductor on the New York, Ontario and Western (O&W) Railroad. John traveled the globe photographing trains. After his second career retirement from the Railroad Museum, he continued to volunteer there and at the Carson City Republican Party Headquarters. He will be missed by his many friends in Nevada and family across the country.
He is survived by a sister, Joanne Geissler, and a niece, Kristen Geissler (Francis D’Amico) in Maryland, and several cousins in Middletown NY, Iowa, South Carolina and Georgia.
His cremated remains will be interred, with full military
honors, at the Northern Nevada Veterans Memorial
Cemetery in Fernley, NV 11:00 AM, October 13, 2023.
A remembrance will be held at the Nevada State Railroad Museum