Finding Frank’s Foto (and Family!)
Meeting the Monroes! March 11, 2024.
(left to right) Jim, Gary, Holly, me, and Mark.
In the last 2 years, I’ve spoken over 150 times to different groups & schools. In my presentation, I’ve had a photo of everyone except for Mr. Frank Monroe, my dad’s lifelong mentor. Frank Monroe was the President of the First National Bank Garden Grove and played a major role in the Mendez/Munemitsu collaboration during WWII. My dad said that Frank was “the best friend you could ever have - he didn’t have a prejudiced bone in his body.” I had met his wife as a child on our annual visits to her home to take a Christmas gift, but at that time she was already a widow.
Educators, law enforcement officers, and a lot of other adults always ask for more info on Frank. They want to know who he was because he plays such a major “behind the scenes” role in “The Kindness of Color” and Mendez v. Westminster. They want to know what made him different from the majority of people who did nothing or were outwardly prejudiced against the Japanese and Mexican Americans.
For a while, the best information I had was from Chris Jepsen, Archivist of Orange County and President of the Orange County Historical Society. He put some facts together in this short paragraph:
—----------
Francis "Frank" Austin Monroe was born April 21, 1888 in San Antonio, Texas to Franklin and Emily "Amelia" [Oster] Monroe. His father died before he turned two and he and his mother moved to St. Louis, Missouri where she likely had family. By the age of 20, Frank was a clerk in the St. Louis office of the Wabash Railroad. Sometime around 1915, he came to Orange County, California. On June 25, 1915 he married Iowa native Enola Christina Meyer Sherwood who'd arrived in Orange County around 1905. Their son, Robert F. Monroe was born in 1926. Frank became a cashier at the First National Bank of Garden Grove in 1918 and later in 1930 (despite only having a high school diploma) served as the bank's president for many years. He was a member of the Garden Grove First Methodist Church, a director of the Garden Grove Chamber of Commerce, and was the longtime treasurer of the Garden Grove Masonic Lodge 586. Frank died suddenly of a heart attack at his home at 12461 Euclid Ave., Garden Grove, on Sept 17, 1951. He is buried at Fairhaven Cemetery in Santa Ana.
—----------
Online I could only find this photo of Frank - from 1920 behind the teller’s counter at the bank - with spittoons at the base of 2 of the teller’s windows!
First National Bank of Garden Grove, interior, May 18, 1920. Bank employees John Deilkman, left, and Frank Monroe, center. Notice the spittoons at the base of the bank counters. Photo courtesy of Orange County Public Libraries and Garden Grove Historical Society. www.ocpl.org
When I spoke at the OC Historical Society in March 2022, someone happened to mention that his son just passed away in 2020. They didn’t know him personally and I felt like I missed a major opportunity, but a major clue was that he was still living locally.
I found the obituary of his son, Robert.
https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/santa-ana-ca/robert-monroe-9008326
When I read that Robert went to college at USC, I wondered if that is why dad always loved the Trojans. Was Frank a USC fan too? Then the obituary listed his children, Frank’s grandchildren, Gary, Mark, Jim, and Holly (Monroe) Ellens. Now I had some names to look for. I also have a friend who works at the church where his service was held, so I made a call to her to ask if she knew the Monroes.
Donna Peery of the Tustin Historical Society also pitched in this search and within hours, she sent me a Facebook link with a note that said, “I think this is his granddaughter!” And when I opened the link I found out that we had friends in common! Specifically, Tommy Dyo, one of the endorsers of my book! Come to find out, not only have they been friends for decades, but live in the same neighborhood! Such a small world!
One text to Tommy and he was “on it!” Checking with Holly to see if her grandparents were Frank and Enola Monroe, I quickly got a joint text and I explained why I was looking for her and her brothers! “Your grandfather is Chapter 5 in my book, “The Kind of Friend Everyone Should Have: Mr. Frank Monroe.”
Frank died at age 63, and her oldest brother was just an infant; the rest of the grandchildren weren’t born yet. So none of them have personal recollections of Frank. A few weeks later, we all got together for lunch and I got to meet Gary, Jim, Mark and Holly in person! What a thrill to connect with Frank’s family and to put our stories together!
Holly provided the following photos. Her brothers brought a copy of a Fall 1945 Garden Grove newspaper article about Frank. This is the opening paragraph.
“In every community there are a few good old reliable wheel horses whose capacity for shouldering responsibility and making decisions is great and who, because of their willingness to serve their community become, as a consequence, overloaded with duties to such an extent that they have left very little time for leisure they may call their own. Such a one, in Garden Grove, is Frank A. Monroe, president of the First National Bank, recurrent War Bond campaign manager, chairman of the high school board of trustees, director of the Chamber of Commerce, treasurer of the Masonic Lodge, trustee of the First Methodist Church, erstwhile chairman of Civilian Defense, and a member of very nearly everything except the Woman’s Civic Club!”
It went on to say that Frank worked more hours than most at the bank, and even though he is “President of the Bank,” he isn’t the least bit “snooty.” He was even found cleaning the windows of the bank one morning after Halloween pranksters had soaped up all the windows of the bank overnight. He was always ready to do “community chores.”
Frank knew hardship from a young age as his father died when he was only 2, and the family told me his mother was legally blind. His wife, Enola, also knew struggle and grief as her parents died at a young age and she was adopted by the Sherwoods who were neighbors. I believe it was out of all the hardships they faced, that Frank and Enola became such trusted and compassionate neighbors and friends to so many.
A family story passed down involved why First National of Garden Grove was not a victim of the Great Depression when people rushed to empty their accounts, taking cash out of the banks nationwide.
Frank and Enola Monroe, Wedding, 1915.
Photo Courtesy of Holly Monroe Ellens.
Dr Violet, the medical doctor in town, arrived at First National Bank to a line of customers waiting for the bank to open so they could withdraw their accounts. Across the street another bank had the long lines too, but only one of the banks would survive the trying national financial crisis. Dr. Violet let the bank customers know that he was “not taking his money out of Frank’s bank” because he trusted Frank, and if they all took their money out of the bank, they would all lose and the bank would close. He asked them to follow his lead. At the end of the day, only one Garden Grove bank was in business as all Frank’s customers followed Dr. Violet’s lead.
I told them of Frank’s life-long friendship and mentorship with my dad, and how Frank introduced my dad to Gonzalo Mendez which initiated their leasing our farm during WWII. The oldest brother, Gary, remembered living in Garden Grove when he was young and picking strawberries; a man named “Seeko” was the farmer. That was my dad, Seiko! Gary said that they probably lost some good profit on the days he got to pick strawberries with his dad and grandmother. I’m sure my dad and grandfather didn’t care at all because of the many years of kindness of his grandfather, Frank Monroe.
“Kindness is…remembering those who helped you with gratitude.” p. 55
My dad first met Frank Monroe when he went to the bank with my grandpa one day. My dad was just a kid walking around the bank when Mr. Monroe went up to him and started a conversation. “I’m here to do banking with my dad.” and that started a lifelong friendship. I bet a lot of things my dad taught me about money, banking, and saving likely came from Mr. Monroe too!
Seiko “Tad” Munemitsu as a child.
Mr. Frank Monroe
Photo Courtesy of Holly Monroe Ellens
During that lunch with the Monroes, I felt that my dad and Frank Monroe were looking down on us from heaven, with big smiles on their faces, seeing the next generation tell stories of their friendship and the Mendez v. Westminster history they never knew they had “behind the scenes” roles.
“Kindness is…collaboration and building trusted friendships.” p.63
I’m so grateful for Mr. Monroe’s heart to befriend a young Japanese American boy, and help him through all the adversity of polio, trials of farming, understanding how to save money and own land, WWII incarceration camps, leasing the farm to Gonzalo Mendez, post-war challenges of getting back to Orange County, and being a lifelong mentor and friend. And, I can’t wait to get back together with the Monroe family again and recount some of our family’s shared history!
Many thanks to Gary, Jim, Mark, and Holly for coming to meet me; to Donna Peery for your online research and finding Holly; to Tommy Dyo for connecting me with Holly - and proving that I’m not a weird stalker of her family! How wonderful to have these friends and celebrate this story together!
What a journey to finding Frank’s foto and a bigger JOY to finding Frank’s Family of Monroes and new friends in Gary, Jim, Mark and Holly! Here’s to ALL of history being shared and told!
In the Press
Follow us on Facebook, Instagram & LinkedIn as we cultivate kindness together