Frank Edwin Van Buskirk

Frank Edwin Van Buskirk was born on January 30, 1966 during the ‘storm of the century’ blizzard of 1966 in Syracuse, New York. He passed away Thursday, June 13, 2024 in Fort Worth, TX where he lived for 16 years.

Frank grew up North of Syracuse, in Hastings, NY and graduated from Paul V. Moore High School. He played football, baseball, basketball, was in color guard, Boy Scouts, and announcer at the school radio station. Frank served as a police officer, volunteer fire fighter and paramedic while residing in NY. He also moonlighted as a DJ and would make “mix tapes” for friends and family. After his move to the Kansas City area, he worked for the Olathe school district and met his wife, Julie. At the age of 40, he decided to go back to school and get his bachelor’s degree in history from the University of North Texas, as he aspired to teach high school history classes.

Frank and Julie were married in 2004 in Jamaica and they both enjoyed Harleys, NASCAR and were avid sporting gun enthusiasts. He annually served as a firearms instructor at the D.I.V.A. clinic training new shooters. He was known in the neighborhood as the dog whisperer as he knew the names of all the neighborhood dogs, but not their owner’s names. Frank loved the family cats and dogs over the years and was the best “papa” to them all. Frank was known for his kindness, generosity, sharp wit and sarcasm. He was a man of his word and made sure to keep in touch with “random” phone calls to everyone who was important to him.

Frank is survived by his wife Julie, and their two “fur babies” Baron and Count. He is also survived by his parents, Mansfield “Butch” and Joyce (Burdick) Van Buskirk, both of Hastings, NY; Father-in-law Robert E Dahl (Jean) of Flagstaff, AZ; Mother-in-law Bernadine Albrecht of Fort Worth, TX; sisters-in-law Shari Dahl (Eric) Hunt of Valdosta, GA; Wendy Albrecht of Fort Worth, TX; brothers-in-law R. Michael Dahl (Cheree) of Sedona, AZ; Matthew Dahl (Janna) of Flagstaff, AZ; Nephew - Gannon Hunt; Nieces - Breanna Hunt (Cameron) Figueroa; Sydney Dahl; Alanna Hunt; Shae Dahl; grand nieces and nephews; numerous aunts, uncles, cousins and lifelong friends.

Celebration of Life plans are pending, but Frank’s wishes were to not have a traditional memorial service. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in his name to local pet rescue organizations

https://www.apollosupportandrescue.org/
https://www.dallasdog.org/

Or

www.heart.org – American Heart Association
https://www.texasheart.org/ – The Texas Heart Institute

Feel free to leave photos and condolences and please return frequently to the web page as updates including a video photo collage will be posted shortly. We would love for you to share in remembering him through pictures.