Balboa Island painter’s work ethic remembered

Deepa Bharath

E. Frank Beall could make poetry out of paint, wood and primer.

The affable painter, who lived in Balboa Island for 60 years,

could almost always be seen walking around in Levi’s jeans, a

T-shirt, with paint on his hands and no shoes -- year-round.

“Barefoot Frank!” his friends called him.

Beall died Sept. 21 after a three-year battle with lung cancer. He

was 65.

Beall was a true-blue local. He graduated from Newport Harbor High

School, attended Orange Coast College and was a member of the

college’s renowned crew team.

He served in the U.S. Army’s 101 Airborne Division.

But people on the island best knew him as a master craftsman,

friend Dick Campbell said.

“He was a master dock painter and a house painter,” he said.

Beall was a perfectionist, almost like an “amazing machine,”

Campbell said.

“He was robotic in his work ethic,” he said. “If that boat was not

the way its owner wanted it, Frank would sand it down and do it all

over again at no additional cost.”

That was how much he cared about his work.

The man had more than one side to him. In the 1960s and ‘70s, he

doubled as a doorman and bouncer at Jolly Roger’s and even worked as

a chef there for about 15 years.

And he could fry anything, from the fluffiest omelet to the

juiciest cheeseburger, Campbell said.

Beall was also a “gentle giant,” he said.

“He was known for his ability to rescue those who could not help

themselves,” Campbell said. “He’d drive an old, beat-up truck, and he

lived in a tiny, one-bedroom house. But everybody loved and respected

Frank.

“He didn’t need to drive a Lexus or own a fancy house,” Campbell

said. “He was amazing. He was one of a kind.”

Hal Holleman, a longtime Balboa Island resident, said Beall was a

“100% honest, hard-working man.”

“He would come over within a matter of minutes when I asked him if

he could do a job for me,” he said.

Holleman said he would miss the man he could always count on.

“You always knew he’d do a good job -- every time,” he said.

Now that his friend is gone, Campbell likes to fondly fantasize

about a conversation he imagines his friend would have had with St.

Peter.

“On the first day, he probably told St. Peter to have the pearly

gates repainted,” he said, with a laugh. “And he probably recommended

Z-Spar by Brolite and suggested he use a $100 brush.”

Beall is survived by his son, Thomas Beall, grandson Riley and

sisters Shirley Anderson and Diane Olstead.

A memorial service is scheduled for 6 p.m. Nov. 5 at Wilma’s Patio

at 203 Marine Ave. in Balboa Island.