Burial Date
Obituaries » Ernest Frank Wall
WALL, ERNEST FRANK, 94, of Pocatello, Idaho, passed away on February 13, of natural causes. He was born to Ernest and Hannah Wall in Evanston, Wyo., on July 14, 1918. Frank graduated with honors from the University of Utah with a BS degree in mining engineering. He was inducted into Phi Kappa Phi and Tau Beta Pi honor societies. On Aug. 12, 1940, he enlisted in the U. S. Navy and received his commission as an officer in December. He served briefly on the carrier USS Yorktown, as an engineering officer. After volunteering for submarine duty, he made seven war patrols on the USS Pompon. In 1945, he was promoted to lieutenant commander and was commanding officer of the training submarine USS S-40. Frank received a commendation ribbon, Submarine Combat with three stars. On Aug. 11, 1942, he married Mercedes M. Wall.
After the war, Frank took his family and moved east where he worked with several companies to improve mining processes and expand operations. In 1970, Frank and two partners launched E.F. Wall & Associates, a general contracting firm operating in the central Vermont area. In 1972, he and his wife divorced. Frank belonged to the Associated General Contractors of VT, the Rotary Club, the Central VT Chamber of Commerce and the Greater VT Association. In 1982, he married Nancy Menard, and in 1984, following his retirement, the family moved to Punta Gorda, Fla. Frank and his son Steve founded Wall Construction. He remained active in Rotary and in their church.
Frank was a lover of the outdoors, and in 1988 he went to Wyoming on an elk hunt. He eventually moved to Wyoming where he pursued his love of the outdoors with hunting, overnight trail rides and trips to cow camp in the Gros Ventre Wilderness. He accompanied the local Fish & Game biologist on numerous annual winter mule deer mortality surveys and summer bighorn sheep surveys. In 1998, he was awarded the Jackson/Pinedale Region Volunteer of the Year Award. After a health scare in 1996, the Walls moved to Idaho, where he rediscovered his love for goose hunting and continued to fish. He volunteered as a tutor and mentor with SEICAA, and enjoyed participating in monthly work parties at the church. Frank was a member of the USSVI. He is survived by his wife, Nancy D. Wall, of Pocatello; a sister, Mrs. Barbara Geiger, of Portland, Ore.; stepdaughter Teri McKay, of Chubbuck, Idaho; sons Steven E., of North Port, Fla., Jonathan (Anne), of Ely, Nev., Benjamin (Yvonne), of Montpelier, and Graydon (Diane), of Trophy Club, Tex.; 13 grandchildren; and 21 great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his stepson, Mark Menard, of West Branch, Iowa.
