Frank Goebel

Frank Lasher Goebel, age 83, went peacefully to be with the Lord on Thursday, April 08, 2021,

after brief illness and complications of Parkinson's disease. Born on September 28, 1937 in Ohio

at Rutland in Meigs County to Frank Louis Goebel and Helen Virginia Lasher, he is survived by

Pat, his best friend and wife of 60 years, daughters Evelyn and Ginny (Kevin); sons Bill

(Barbie), Ted (Kelly), and Charley (Karen); and grandchildren Maddie, Kyle, Ben, Emma, Peter,

and Jenna. He attended public school in Meigs County through 8th grade. He then enrolled at

Don Bosco Agricultural School in Huttonsville, West Virginia. After graduating from Don

Bosco in 1955, he started a small Grade A dairy on his father and mother's farm in Athens

County. Then, in 1959, after experiencing first-hand the challenges of earning a living on a small

family farm, he decided to try the business world.

This turned out to be a fifty-five year-long consumer and commercial banking career, beginning

first at Pioneer Savings and Loan in Marietta, Economy Savings and Loan in Belpre, and Tri

County Bank in Coolville. He then settled down for 21 years at Wood County Bank in

Parkersburg, West Virginia, where he was named president in 1978. Three years later the bank's

controlling interest was sold, and Frank moved to Columbus to begin a second 30 year banking

career, first with The Ohio Bank as Columbus Region President, and then with its successors Sky

Bank and later Huntington Bank. He retired in 2015, having spent his last five years at Columbus

First Bank in Worthington, looking after his many long-time customers.

Through the mentoring of Bert Glaze, chairman of the Department of Economics and Business

Administration at Marietta College, as well as George Banziger, Dean of Continuing Education,

Frank completed the requirements of Bachelor of Arts degree in Managerial Economics,

graduating with honors in 1991. He was a graduate of the Ohio School of Banking at Ohio

University, the Graduate School of Banking at the University of Wisconsin, the National

Commercial Lending School at the University of Oklahoma, the School of Bank Marketing at

Northwestern University, and the School of Commercial Bank Management at Columbia

University. He was active in local, state, and national trade associations, including as director

and national membership chairman for the Bank Marketing Association, member of the

Executive Council of the West Virginia Bankers Association, and director of the Ohio Valley

Chapter of the American Institute of Banking. He also served as Treasurer for the DublinWorthington Rotary, member of the Columbus Council on World Affairs, Volunteer of the Year

at the Salesian Boys and Girls Club, and volunteer at Riverside Methodist Hospital, a founding

member of the Economic Roundtable of the Ohio Valley at Marietta College, and a member of

Junior Achievement of Mid-Ohio Valley, Rotary Club, and Serra Club, in Parkersburg. He also

served in the West Virginia National Guard and the U. S. Army Reserves.

In the years after their marriage in 1961, Frank and Pat acquired about 200 acres next to his

parents' farm. It was here that they raised their five children. There were ponies, horses,

registered Angus cattle, sheep, cats, puppies to sell, hay to cut and bale, and trips out west many

summers. No wonder their five children all live in the west, one in Texas, one in New Mexico,

two in Colorado, and one in Idaho. Frank had really two lives going on for those twenty years.

First was the work-day responsibilities at the bank in Parkersburg, and then in the evenings and

week-ends stress-relieving work on the farm. This made for a busy and rewarding family life,

with many years' work regenerating hay, pasture, and woodland at the Coolville farm and finally

at his mother's family's Rutland farm. This work earned the family the 1981 Conservation

Award from the Athens County Soil and Conservation District.

Frank loved to travel, making it to all the states and Canadian provinces, driving twice to Alaska.

He enjoyed old cars, and new ones as well, among them a 1967 Austin Healey 3000, a 1950

Studebaker Land Cruiser, and a 1955 MG. And he liked to restore early American furniture.

Later in life Frank and Pat made many trips abroad, to Italy, Ireland, Germany, Greece and

Turkey. He set a goal of taking all the children and their partners to Rome, but not all at once, so

that he could fully exploit the enjoyment of Italy's sites and cuisine.

In 1995, he learned he had a coronary heart blockage. Thus began a new diet and exercise

program that led twice to the Columbus Marathon, twice to a Colorado mountain race, and four

times to the Grand Canyon, once a rim to rim in one day with sons Bill and Ted, ignoring the

warning signs "DO NOT attempt to hike from the canyon rim to the river and back in one day!"

Later in 2007, most of the family joined him for more sensible two day rim to rim trip across the

Canyon, with Pat running the shuttle.

Frank was a firm believer in the authenticity of the Holy Shroud of Turin, the burial cloth of

Jesus. He saw the Shroud first in 1998, in the company of the leader of the 1978 examination and

study, and then again during the Jubilee Year in 2000, and finally in 2015. He also had a special

devotion to his Guardian Angel, who he claimed had more than once kept him from bodily harm

most memorable in his escape from a dorm fire at the University of Oklahoma.

In his last months, Frank and Pat made the difficult decision to sell their long-time home in

Columbus, Ohio, and move to Denver, Colorado, to be near Evelyn and Ginny. In January, Ted

and Bill helped them pack up the house and hit the road to Denver in a rented RV. After couple

of months under daughter Evelyn's roof, Frank and Pat moved into a new house in early March.

His last project was to get Pat located and unpacked. In those last months and days, Frank was

able to spend time with all the children.

Visiting hours are 5:30 - 7:30 pm, Wednesday, April 28, at Egan-Ryan Funeral Home, 4661

Kenny Road, Columbus, Ohio. Mass of Christian Burial will be at 10:30 am, Thursday, April 29

at St Brendan the Navigator Catholic Church, 4475 Dublin Road, Hilliard, Ohio 43026, Father

Bob Penhallurick, Celebrant. Burial will be at the Goebel Family Cemetery, Brister Road,

Coolville, Athens County at 2PM. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the

Goebel Family Endowment Fund for Salesian Missions Agricultural Schools. The Salesian order

is the second largest Catholic order. Their focus is the care and education of young boys and girls

in developing countries. Nearly 10,000 religious operate 3,200 schools in 130 countries with

over one million students. Address for the Endowment Fund is Salesian Missions, 2 Lefevre

Lane, New Rochelle, New York 10801. www.salesianmissions.org or Womens Care Center,

www.womenscarecenter.org. Condolences may be sent to www.egan-ryan.com.

LINKS

Egan-Ryan Northwest Chapel

http://www.egan-ryan.com

Athens Messenger

http://athensmessenger.com