SWAMPSCOTT — Whether you knew him as Fran, Red, Fed, Dad, or Grampy, Fran Delano was and continues to be a pillar in the Swampscott community. Fran, who was a Swampscott firefighter for 43 years, passed away Sunday at the age of 85.
“Swampscott won’t be the same,” Fran’s son Ted Delano said.
Fran was known for his work as a dedicated firefighter. Bob Pickett, a retired Swampscott firefighter, said Fran took him under his wing when Pickett began his career in 1996.
“He was always very calming, he never got nervous. When I was a young firefighter and I was on my way to fires I’d be a nervous wreck, and he would always calm me down and he always knew what to say,” Pickett said. “He was just a great guy, and everybody loved him.”
Retired Fire Chief Larry Galante worked with Fran for 32 years.
“When I was a captain he was like my right hand guy, I would ask him for everything. And then when I became chief, he still came in and offered that advice and I always took it,” Galante said. “He had a great ability to analyze the situation and come up with a solution.”
What he remembers most about Fran is how they smoked cigars together. For many, when they think of Fran, they think of the cigars.
On Wednesday, Ted’s house was full of family remembering the man they knew as Dad and Grampy. There was no shortage of stories to go around.
Fran’s sister, Nancy DiLisio, told of his life in Swampscott before becoming a firefighter. He worked as a caddy at the New Ocean House, worked on fishing boats, sold Christmas trees in December, worked at Doane’s before it was known as Mission on the Bay, had a large Sunday paper route, and worked at Sherman’s furniture store.
When Fran was 9-years-old his grandfather, who worked in the Department of Public Works, had him plow snow with a V-Plow.
“He used to pull that around the neighborhood at no charge and, believe it or not, he did a good job,” DiLisio said.
In 1953, DiLisio said Fran went with the Swampscott Fire Department when the Worcester tornado struck.
“He was young, but my mother and father said he could go, and he went there to help out,” DiLisio said.
Fran and his wife of 58 years, Judith Delano, have three children and seven grandchildren.
Growing up, his son Scott Delano remembers going along with his dad to fires.
“Some kids’ fathers probably took them to parks or maybe camping,” Scott said. “My father took me to four-alarm blazes in Salem, Lynn, Peabody.”
Ted has similar memories of his father. He said that his dad always had a scanner with him so he would know when a fire started. Even after Fran retired, he continued to keep his scanner on his person.
“He took me to a fire in downtown Salem and I think I was about 11 or 12, and unfortunately a fireman dropped in front of us, and he didn’t miss a beat and started CPR,” Ted said. “That was just the way he was. He wanted to help.”
Ted said his dad was the main reason he became a police officer.
Julie Faulkner, Fran’s daughter, said she remembers always getting a Coke with him after school.
Another story she recalled was the time she missed her 9 p.m. curfew. He was able to figure out where she was and told her she needed to get home.
“He found out exactly where you were, when you were, and that was before cell phones or video cameras or anything like that, he just knew,” Julie said.
To say Fran was a supportive grandfather would be an understatement. He always went to every single one of his grandchildren’s sports games, his grandchildren Mackenzie Faulkner and Liam Faulkner remembered.
“He was there on the sidelines. He’s one of the first people you could see, always right there as close to the field as you can get,” Liam said. “It’s raining, he’s there with an umbrella, if it’s not, he’s there in his chair.”
Fran gave his grandchildren rides whenever they needed them, and they said he usually showed up 30 minutes early. He ran on what they called “Delano time.”
His daughter-in-law Ann Delano said her children described their Grampy as an “angel.”
Fran had a lot of connections in Swampscott, where he knew everyone. He was the chair of the Swampscott Retirement Board, a member of Swampscott Beach Club and the Swampscott Club, and was once a Town Meeting member.
In his retirement years, Fran worked at Tedesco Country Club as a maintenance worker. His grandson T.J. Delano remembers going there with him.
“Grampy used to bring me down to Tedesco to go to work with him. He let me drive around a golf cart at the age of 10 and pick up all the balls and we’d fill divots around Tedesco,” T.J. said. “Fast forward 10, 15 years later, I was actually working at Tedesco with him at the same time so that was a nice little full circle thing.”
Spenser Hasak, the creative director, photographer, and newsroom manager here at The Daily Item, said he wouldn’t have his job if it weren’t for Fran.
The summer after graduating from college with a photography degree, Hasak went back to his regular summer job at Tedesco. It was a stage of his life where he wasn’t sure what was next for him.
“I’ll never forget it, one day I was working up at the driving range with Fran and he was like, ‘Spense, I put in a call to my good buddy Ted [Grant, publisher of The Item], you should be expecting a phone call,’” Hasak said. “Sure enough, like a day later I got a phone call from Ted Grant asking me to come in and interview.”
He started out as a freelance sports photographer, and Hasak has now been at The Item for seven and a half years.
“I don’t think I’d even talked to him about like, ‘Hey, like, what am I gonna do with my life?’” Hasak said. “But that’s just the kind of guy he was, he saw a need and just made things happen.”
He was a leader of the family, Fran’s daughter-in-law Candace Delano said.
“Everything was always just around him. At Christmas time he had a chair and we all sat around,” Candace said. “We always knew when we’re out to dinner, Grampy was the head of the table.”
What Fran may be best known for are his one liners. The family said he had one for every situation.
“Instead of saying goodbye, he’d just say ‘Happy motoring,’” Julie said.
There will be a visitation service for Fran at St. John the Evangelist Church on Friday, March 17 from 9 to 10 a.m. Instead of flowers, donations may be made to the Swampscott Firemen’s Relief Association, c/o Justin Ramstine, 76 Burrill St., Swampscott, MA 01907.
