Francis J. Szczepaniak

Francis ?Frank? J. Szczepaniak, Jr., 60, of 969 West Main Road, Middletown, RI, died unexpectedly Thursday, December 21, 2006 at home.Born in Newport, RI on November 23, 1946, he was the son of Rosemary Camara Szczepaniak of Portsmouth and the late Francis Szczepaniak Sr.Frank grew up in Portsmouth, attending the St. Anthony?s School. He attended De La Salle Academy in Newport, and later switched to Warren High School. While in high school he was an excellent student and an outstanding baseball player and excelled at pitching. He was named captain of the Warren baseball team, earned a spot on the All State team, and was also a National Honor Society member. He also participated in the debate team and won a trophy for debate while at Warren High. In 1964 he was selected to represent his state on the Rhode Island People to People traveling baseball team. This team traveled to Central and South America playing games in several countries on a goodwill tour. He continued on to Brown University on scholarship and played baseball during his time in college.After college he worked for ATT in New Jersey and retired as a financial agent after a 25 year career. He returned to Rhode Island and lived in Middletown, working as the Hardware Department manager at Wal-Mart. He loved movies and reading and collected records. He always kept up on baseball and was a fan his whole life, taking after his father.Besides his mother he is survived by his grandmother Rose L. Camara, his brother William Szczepaniak and his wife Cheryl of Portsmouth, RI, his sister Elaine Hammond of Portsmouth, RI, his nephews Austin and Travis Szczepaniak both of Portsmouth, RI, his uncle Joseph Camara and his wife Pauline, local aunts and uncles Evelyn Correia, Ellie and Fred Borges, and Fannie and Arturo DiPazio, and other aunts and uncles out of town.His funeral will be held on Thursday, December 28, 2006, at 9:00 am from the Connors Funeral Home, 55 West Main Road, Portsmouth, with a Mass of Christian Burial at 10:00 am in St. Anthonys Church, 2836 East Main Road, Portsmouth. Burial will be in St. Columbas Cemetery in Middletown.Calling hours will be held on Wednesday, December 27, 2006, from 4-7pm in the Connors Funeral Home.