Frank Landry

Frank G. Landry, 92, of St. Johnsbury, died of complications of Parkinson’s disease on November 16, 2019, at Canterbury Inn.  He was a loving husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather, uncle, and a faithful friend to many. He was known for his dry sense of humor, his love of family, and his kind and compassionate spirit.

Frank was born in St .Johnsbury, the son of Frank M. Landry and Marie B. (Prevost) Landry. After graduating from St. Gabriel School in St. Johnsbury, he won a state-wide scholarship to a private high school, Assumption College High School, in Worcester, Massachusetts. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy two months before graduation in 1945 and he served for two and a half years as a Pharmacist Mate Second Class.

After discharge, he studied at the University of Vermont. He graduated in 1951 with a BA degree after taking a year off to help sell the family business, Landry’s Drug Store in St. Johnsbury, after his father had a stroke. He earned a DDS degree in 1955 from Columbia School of Dental and Oral Surgery in New York, New York.

Frank met his first wife, Joan Ganow from New Jersey, at the University of Vermont. They were married in 1954, just before Frank’s senior year at Columbia. After basic training at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas, he was assigned to Fort Dix, New Jersey.  He served for two years as a Captain, earning the U.S. Army Dental Service Certificate of Achievement.

Frank established a dental practice in Denville and practiced there for 40 years. He was a general dentist but also expanded into craniofacial pain management (specifically tic douloureux), implantology, endodontics, and oral surgery.

While building his successful dental practice, Frank and his wife Joan raised their son Chris and daughter Sue. Frank was involved in his children’s various activities, including boy scouts and the high school marching band. They enjoyed many family vacations in Stone Harbor, New Jersey, plus tent camping in New Jersey and Canada, ski vacations, and visiting relatives in Vermont and elsewhere. Frank and Joan enjoyed traveling after their children were grown, including a trip to the Soviet Union in 1972.

He was an avid reader and continued to learn throughout his life to satisfy his curiosity about a wide variety of subjects. He always loved drawing and painting and became an active artist after his retirement. He picked up roller blading at age 70, when he also did his first of a few sky dives.

Frank was active in several dental associations. He served as president of the Tri-County Dental Society, a trustee of the New Jersey Dental Association and speaker of its House of Delegates, delegate to the American Dental Association House of Delegates, and parliamentarian of the ADA Fourth District. He also served as vice chairman of the NJDA Special Committee on Fluoridation.

Frank was active in the Rotary Club of Denville and served as president in 1965. He twice received the club’s prestigious Paul Harris fellowship. He was very active in the local community, and received a Distinguished Service Award from the Greater Denville Jaycees. He was a long-time lector at St. Mary’s Church in Denville and served on the Diocese of Patterson Lay Council for several years. He was also an active member of the Art Association in Roxbury.

Frank was founding member and chairman of the dental staff at St. Clare’s Hospital in Denville as well as a founding member of the NJ chapter of the American Society for Preventive Dentistry. He achieved fellowships in the Academy of General Practice, the Pierre Fauchard Academy, the Academy of Stress and Chronic Diseases, and the American College of Dentistry. Other memberships included the International College of Oral Implantologists, the American College of Oral Implantology, and the American Society of Osseointegration.

Frank cared deeply about others and was active in helping those less fortunate. Through a humanitarian program of the National Foundation of Dentistry, he volunteered to provide charity dental treatment for handicapped, elderly, and medically compromised people. He also served as a dentist for St. Peter’s Orphanage in Denville.

Frank retired from his dental practice at age 71 but remained active as an interim dentist in New Hampshire for more than two years.

Frank’s dearly loved wife of 43 years tragically died of cancer three months after he retired. Four years later, he returned to his hometown of St. Johnsbury to marry a longtime friend, Rosalie Vear, whose husband had also died of cancer after a long, happy marriage.

Frank was happy to be back in his hometown and quickly involved himself in the St. Johnsbury community. He was active in the St. Johnsbury Rotary Club and volunteered as a mentor for the Northeast Kingdom Youth Services, later becoming an active board member. He volunteered with Hospice, the Continua Hospice Chorus, the St. Johnsbury Welcome Center, the Red Cross, and the St. Johnsbury Shade Tree Commission. He became a successful fundraiser for First Night and a fundraiser and committee member for Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. The St. Johnsbury Academy’s Community of Concern named him as one of its several area “unsung heroes” in 2007. The NEK Chamber of Commerce named him its 2009 Volunteer of the Year. Frank enjoyed sharing his occasionally controversial thoughts on various subjects at Board of Selectmen meetings and in letters to the editor in the Caledonian-Record. A member of St. John the Apostle Church and Knights of Columbus, he participated as a lector and member of the funeral choir and the spiritual book club.

Predeceased by his dearly loved first wife, Joan Lee, he is survived by his equally dearly loved wife, Rosalie Vear; his son Chris and his wife Nancy of Hudson, New Hampshire; and his daughter Sue and her husband, Tom of Milford, New Jersey. He also leaves three grandchildren, Karen Hayden and her husband Charlie, Kevin Landry, and Greg Landry and his wife Lindsey, all of Nashua, New Hampshire, as well as two great grandchildren, Alex and William Hayden. He is also survived by his sisters Louise Plouffe of Williston, Vermont, and Fran Gingue of St. Johnsbury and Ocala, Florida, a number of nieces and nephews, their children, and several Vear stepchildren and their families.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 11AM on Wednesday, November 20, 2019, at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church, 39 Winter Street in St. Johnsbury with Fr. Robert Little as celebrant.  Burial will take place privately at Mt. Calvary Cemetery. Calling hours will be Tuesday, November 19, 2019, 6-8PM, at Sayles Funeral Home, 525 Summer Street in St. Johnsbury, VT.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Memorial donations may be made to Caledonia Home Health & Hospice, 161 Sherman Drive, St. Johnsbury, VT 05819.

Condolences may be shared with the family at www.saylesfh.com