Frank Earl Childs

Frank Earl Childs, 80, of Blanchester, OH, an Army veteran and dedicated career firefighter for the City of Cincinnati passed away on March 25, 2025. We thank him for his service.

Frank, born in Cincinnati, OH on September 13, 1944, to the late Vernice E. (nee Bradford) and Frank S. Childs. Preceded in death by his wife Kathleen M. Childs (nee Brockman). Loving father to Amy (Jamie) Stewart, Kim Childs, Katie (Jeremy) Lewis and papaw to Jilly Lewis, Addy Lewis and Brooke Stewart. Dear brother of Terry (Jeanne) Childs (late Jacqueline), Jeannene Nave (late Thomas), Linda Childs (late), Esther Childs, Nancy (James) Fox and Brian (Lissa) Childs, uncle to Jeannene Woodward (late), also survived by numerous nieces and nephews.

We would like to thank the wonderful caregivers and staff at Trustwell Living at Bell Gardens Place, in Hillsboro, for all of their amazing support and care during the last three years that he spent with them. Also, a heartfelt thank you to Ohio’s Hospice for excellent end of life care for dad and support for us as a family. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations in Frank’s name can be made to www.ohioshospice.org.

A celebration of Frank’s life will be held at a later date.

From Firefighter to Captain, Dad worked hard, was excellent at his job, and he could also fall asleep anywhere. A major hazard of being a firefighter! The Fireman’s Picnic was our favorite day of the year! We could not wait to see and spend time with our “Fire Family”. Our pre-shift mantra was “get to work safely and come home safely”. He always came home safely…usually with donuts!

Dad kept busy on his off days as a security guard, pouring concrete, and driving many different trucks, over the road and around town. He liked to drive fast on the back roads, slow on the highway, and he could drive anything.

He preferred TV shows like Mash and NCIS, the History channel, westerns and war-time movies, as well as baseball and golf. We often watched what he enjoyed just to hang out with him.

Dad was very active and enjoyed gymnastics, skiing, volleyball, and softball in his younger years. We spent many a day and night cheering his teams on and running amok in hotels while at various softball tournaments. He loved being on the water, boating, and he was an amazing competitive swimmer. Dad passed on that love and taught us all to swim and dive (some neighborhood kids too). His passion in his later years and retirement was golf. If he wasn’t golfing, he was working at the golf course or hanging with his golf buddies. He always ended a text with a golf emoji! 🏌️‍♂️

He was an involved and protective girl dad and that extended to our friends growing up, as well as his granddaughters. He was a regular chauffeur to lots of giggling girls and wasn’t shy about “girly” things.

He took care of us when we were sick and suffered through many bouts of thermometer elbow. He was quick with a bucket, skilled at wound care, and we always had a chest to lay on.

We loved to accompany him to the grocery store and were right at his heels when we heard him pick up his keys. Kim and Katie would sneak items into the cart. Amy always put them back.

He had a fabulously loud laugh and once he got going, he couldn’t stop. One time we were in the theater to see E.T. and a drunk E.T. caused a laughing fit like no other. He had the whole theater in stitches.

He was simply incorrigible when it came to his sweet tooth, especially anything chocolate, and he always had a Diet Pepsi on hand. He wasn’t a fancy beer drinker, but he did imbibe the occasional Bud Light.

Frank was feisty, sarcastic, and quick with the one-liners. He had the best expressive raised eyebrow and could easily wrangle us with his loud whistle. We could continue to fill the page with memories and funny anecdotes, but the bottom line is that we loved our dad, and we will miss him immensely.