Army trumpeter ran clothing stores around the region

10/3/2004

SANDUSKY - Richard G. Frost, 82, who owned and operated the former Cindy's Woman's Clothing in Fremont, Port Clinton, and Clyde and was a trumpet player for the U.S. Army during World War II, died Friday in the Ohio Veterans Home here.

He had Alzheimer's disease.

"He truly enjoyed sewing. He got a kick out of it," his son, Stephen Frost, said.

"He was [also] an intelligent businessman and a real community guy. He priced his [merchandise] fairly, and people liked him."

A native of Bellevue, Ohio, Mr. Frost played trumpet in the Bellevue High School band and was rated as one of Ohio's top high school trumpet players, his son said.

After graduating from high school in about 1940, Mr. Frost attended Ohio University in Athens for about a year and then dropped out to enlist in the Army.

During the war, he toured the United States with the Fifth Service Command Band until his honorable discharge in about 1946.

In 1949, Mr. Frost married his first wife, Gerrie Walker. She died in 1975. Two years later, he married Carol Worshil.

After the war, Mr. Frost sold thread for a Chicago-based company in Sandusky and Fremont for several years.

In the late 1960s, he became the Ohio sales representative for the former Health-Tex Children's Clothing, which he did for about 10 years.

In the early 1970s, Mr. Frost opened a store in Clyde.

A few years later, he added stores in Fremont and Port Clinton.

He owned and operated the stores until the late 1980s, when he closed them and retired, his son said.

In retirement, Mr. Frost enjoyed playing bridge and fishing in Lake Erie.

Mr. Frost was a member of the Masonic Lodge of Bellevue. He was a former member of St. John's Lutheran Church in Fremont and of the Elks of Bellevue.

Surviving are his wife of 27 years, Carol Frost; son, Stephen Frost; daughter, Cynthia Frost; brother, Eugene Frost; sister, Nancy Queen, and three grandchildren.

Services will be at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Keller-Ochs-Koch Funeral Home, Fremont, where the body will be after 6 p.m. Tuesday.

The family suggests tributes to the Alzheimer's Association of Northwest Ohio.