Frank L. Woodfill

Frank L. Woodfill, 85, passed away peacefully in August in Norwalk, CT.  He grew up in Nevada, Missouri, hunting ducks and fishing with his father every weekend starting at age 4.  In high school, he was selected as the school’s representative at Boy’s State (an organization dedicated to helping young men become leaders).  After graduating from Nevada High School, he attended college at Wesleyan University in Connecticut with a full scholarship and then transferred to Central Missouri State University in Warrensburg.  There, he met his wife, Leta.  After getting their bachelor’s degrees, Frank and Leta moved to northern Missouri where they worked as teachers. 

Frank loved reading the Alaska Magazine and dreamed of hunting and fishing in Alaska, so he and his wife sent teaching applications to all the larger towns in Alaska. After getting jobs in Craig, a small town on Prince of Wales Island, they packed their car and drove to Prince Rupert, Canada in 1967.   From there, the car was loaded on a ferry and stored in Ketchikan.  Next, they climbed into a Grumman Goose, a sea plane, and soon landed in the ocean close to the village of Craig, AK where Frank taught high school history and English. On a trip to a teachers’ conference in Juneau, he met the head of a brokerage firm and soon achieved his second dream - to work as a stock broker. That summer he and his wife lived in Juneau.  Later, they took a ferry to Haynes, AK then drove to Anchorage where Frank became a broker for Wedbush Securities.  He worked there for 23 years and presented the daily stock market report on local radio.   A little over a year after their arrival in Anchorage, their daughter, Daphne, was born.  

On weekends, Frank enjoyed trap shooting and won many competitions. He also loved hunting ducks, geese, moose, and caribou and camping and fishing with his family at his favorite places: Deep Creek, Anchor River, Skilak Lake and the Kenai River.  He loved sports, especially  baseball, and his favorite team was the St. Louis Cardinals.  When Frank retired, he and his wife moved back to Nevada, MO and eventually to Connecticut.  

He’s survived by his wife, Leta Woodfill, his daughter, Daphne Riahi and her husband, Doug Riahi, granddaughter Corin, all from Norwalk, CT and his sister, Mary Park and husband, Lee Park of Baltimore, MD.    

Preceding Frank in death are his parents, Elizabeth and Jack Woodfill of Nevada, Missouri and his sister, Kathy Mason of Canton, Ohio.