Obituary of Frank Adami

Frank Adami, of Oakland, passed away on Friday, April 26, 2019 at the age of 86. He was born on February 16, 1933 in Tenafly, NJ to Elia and America (Piccoli) Adami. 

Frank leaves behind his adoring wife Bernice Virginia (Watkins) Adami sadly just three days shy of their 58th anniversary of April 29th. 

He was an extremely devoted father to Linda Adami, Diane and her husband Phil Weinpel, Robert Adami, and David and his wife Chan Adami. He was also blessed with two grandsons Jason and Kevin Weinpel. 

He is predeceased by his sister Judy (Adami) Prospero and brother Ensio Adami.

Loving uncle to Patty (Renshaw) Divens, Dorothy (Renshaw) Hayes, Bernard Renshaw Jr., Janet Hughes, Linda (Hughes) Scarbrough, Eugene Prospero, Audrey Seifert, Carla (Prospero) Constantino, and Patrick Adami

He was a great Uncle to Jesse Builta-Paradise, Eric Divens, Philip Constantino, Elisa Constantino, Nathaniel Scarbrough, and Eve Scarbrough and great, great uncle to Kylee Divens, Paige Paradise, Kaylin Divens, and Mya Divens.

Frank was a Korean War Army veteran, serving from 1953 to 1955 and was also very involved in his community. He was an Oakland Volunteer fireman active for 25 years and then became a lifetime member. He and his wife Virginia volunteered at The Valley Hospital for over 10 years. He also belonged to the Oakland Seniors Club for many years where he volunteered to check members in or take attendance at their bimonthly meetings. 

Frank worked as a Bricklayer or Mason with Union 44 for most of his working years. He also built many brick or masonry projects around his own home, for his family and friends, for a little masonry side business that he had, and also as pro bono for the town of Oakland through the years. His biggest and grandest project was for his sister Judy and her family. For them he did the brick work for not only a huge two-car garage that had full storage area above, but also a beautiful, spacious family room or closed-in breezeway that included a traditional Italian fireplace that connecting the two. The table in the family room was large enough to fit, would you believe, 18 people? The family room was large enough to also fit a couch and chairs around it. There the entire family gathered for many family dinners throughout the year, especially for very memorable Thanksgiving dinners. So much so that many family members now say that Thanksgiving was their favorite holiday of all growing up! His sister Judy was a truly amazing cook and host, to say the least! And as an added bonus, he also built them a wine cellar where his brother-in-law Evo made and stored MANY bottles of his homemade Italian red wine that everyone enjoyed! He also did many masonry projects for his daughter Diane and her family. For them he built a beautiful two-level slate landscape wall in the front of her house, front streps, two sidewalks, and a very unique brick mailbox that many of her neighbors envied throughout the years. Frank liked it’s design so much that he built himself a smaller version at his house. And would you believe that Frank also even did the brick work for a home for his parents? He built all these things with such pride and so lovely for his family. And after a hard day or days of labor all he wanted in return was a nice meal with a glass or two of wine for thanks. That’s the kind of man Frank was, always so loving, humble and giving up until the day he died! They are all now monuments or symbols of his love and dedication to all of them! And after a hard day or days of labor all he wanted or asked in return was a good meal with a glass or two of wine for thanks. That’s the kind of man Frank Adami was, always so loving, giving and humble up until the day he died. He also shared or donated his masonry skills around the town of Oakland pro bono. One thing being the brick work for “The Borough of Oakland” message board that is located in the Veteran’s Park on Rampo Valley Road in front of the public library. He built all these things with such pride for his family, friends and community. They are now all monuments or symbols of his love and dedication to them all.

Frank’s love was to travel the world as much as he could. Some trips that he and his wife will never forget are traveling to Italy where his family was from, England a few times where they visited Virginia’s family in Devon, Alaska, Bermuda, and the Panama Canal. They also traveled throughout the United States quite a lot too. They especially looked forward each year to escaping the New Jersey winters by spending them in Destin, Florida as “snow birds”. While there, they visited or stayed by his wife’s niece Patty Divens and her family for 12 years or winters. His fondest memories of Destin’s were to walk its beautiful beaches for miles and miles and spend time with Patty and her family.

His hobby of many years was building remote control model airplanes and rubber powered model plans and flying them with one of the four flying clubs that he belonged to. He belonged to The Metropolitan Sports Squadron that flew out of the Teaneck Armory and The Bergen County Silent Flyers, The Wayne Modelers, and The Top of New Jersey all that flew out at other various fields.

Frank will forever be remembered as an extremely loving, dedicated and giving husband, father, grandfather, and friend to all who knew him. He will surely be missed by all. In Lieu of flowers his family is requesting that donations be made to the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation for Breast Cancer in memory of his beloved daughter Linda who passed away from Breast Cancer 26 years ago in 1992 at the age of 30.