William E. “Bill” Frame (Missoula ’53)
Posted: May 15, 2025
Bill died July 19, 2025, at his son’s home in Pine Island, Minnesota.
From Bill’s bio: “I was born on Valentine’s Day (Feb. 14) in 1933. My mother was at my Grandma’s house about three miles from Northfield, MN. I understand they were worried about getting my mother to town because of the predicted snow and cold weather, but she made it to the hospital.
“I grew up outside of Northfield on a dairy farm of 200 acres and graduated from Northfield H.S. in 1951. I started college at St. Olaf College in Northfield, but after two years, I was on probation. My father said that it was my sister’s turn to go to Carleton College. He couldn’t pay for both. I understood and got a job in Heppner, OR, as a fire guard on the Umatilla N.F. Hitchhiking back to MN in the fall, I got a ride with an ex-smokejumper who told me all about it and where to apply. I did apply and began jumping in the summer of 1953.” Bill jumped at Missoula 1953, 55, 57, and at Grangeville 1954.
“The next Spring quarter I went back to school, but this time at Mankato State Teachers College in Mankato, MN. It is amazing how my grades improved when I had to pay my own expenses. I continued smokejumping the next two summers, in fact I went to New Mexico in 1955. The next summer I skipped smokejumping to go to summer school so I could graduate in 1957. I graduated with degrees in Math and Science. I married Sandy Hamann a week after graduation, June 7, 1957. I had to get to Missoula to do the refresher course the next week.
“I started teaching school in September 1957 and was awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) fellowship to go to San Diego State College for the school year of 1959-1960. I went back to teaching when I returned. I got three more summers through NSF at the University of Montana, finishing my master’s degree in 1966.
“I continued teaching Math at John Marshall H.S. in Rochester, MN. We bought a farm near Pine Island, MN (about 25 miles from school). We had some beef cows, and I did some crop farming on my Dad’s farm in Northfield when he retired his dairy farm. I then retired from teaching in 1991, having completed 33 years at John Marshall.
“We recently sold the farm and now live in a senior living apartment in Rochester, MN. We have one son and two daughters in MN, 10 grandchildren, and 9 great grandchildren, the 3 oldest being in the 8th grade. Pretty bad for a couple that once belonged to the Zero Population Organization in the 70s & 80s!”
From Bill Frame Jr.: “Smokejumping was a proud part of Bill’s life. He once was able to provide rides in a Ford Tri-Motor for all his kids and grandkids. There were tears of pride that day! Another highlight for Bill was discovering that the photo on the cover of Randel Hurst’s “The Smoke Jumpers” is of him ready to jump from a Lockheed Lodestar. Although he had a hip and two knee replacements, you couldn’t convince him that the smoke jumping had anything to do with that.
Bill passed on only 5 months after his wife of 66 years, Sandy’s death. Their children survive them, Bill, Becky, and Barb, along with 10 Grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.”
