Frank James Battreal Jr

February 27, 1939 - January 5, 2021

Frank James Battreal, Jr., age 81, of St. Augustine, passed away on January 5, 2021 at Baptist South in Jacksonville. He was born and raised in Potosi, Missouri to the late Frank and Bernice Battreal. After high school Frank proudly served our country in the U.S. Navy. He married his highschool sweetheart, Sue Presley and the two were married for 62 years. He retired in 1980 from the Navy as an electronics technician and went to work for Leads &Northup for a few years. He then opened his own business in Georgia repairing control panels. For the past 17 years he has been living in St. Augustine with his wife to be closer to their children. He was very active in their church at Turning Point at Calvary, and served as a deacon and a Sunday School teacher. He was also very involved in the Gideon Ministry. More than anything he loved his family. He is survived by his wife, Sue Battreal; children, Cynthia Edgerly (Don), Laura Roher (David), Melanie Gonzales (Steve), James Battreal (Monica); siblings, Richard Battreal, Glenon Battreal, Doris Mercer, Karen Foster, 13 grandchildren, 26 great grandchildren and 2 great great grandchildren. He was preceded in death by brothers, David Battreal and John Battreal. Celebration of life will be held at 10:00 am on Tuesday, January 12, 2021 at Turning Point at Calvary. Interment will follow at 1:30 pm at Jacksonville National Cemetery. In keeping with the COVID -19 guidelines we ask that all attendees wear mask and practice social distancing. We also ask that if you are at high risk, feeling ill, or traveling from an area with a high level of infection, please do not attend the visitation or service. Those unable to attend can view the service which will be live streamed. The link to view the live stream is: The link to view the live stream is: https://iframe.dacast.com/b/156599/c/iframe.dacast.com/b/156599/c/549019 St. Johns Family Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. A Tribute to Dad Frank was born on a cold winter day February 27, 1939 in Cadet, MO, which was a small village about 6 miles NE of Potosi, that had its start when the railroad extended to that area. When Frank was still a small child, his family moved 80 miles NE to Mitchel, IL, another small community located about 6 miles NE of Granite City, across the river from St Louis. Frank lived in a modest small wooden 4-room house in middle of a farm field. It had an outhouse and a pump for water outside the house. There was a steel mill nearby, where his dad worked when Frank was young. When Frank was in the 4th grade, he attended the same lone school in town as Sue, who was in the 3rd grade. But she didn’t know him until going to a youth hangout at a someone’s home when she was in the 5th grade and Frank was in the 6th grade. They were a couple from that day forward, except for 2 weeks when Sue broke up with him when she was in the 8th grade. They were soon back together forever since then. As a teenager, Frank worked for his dad in a gas station by the steel mill. He worked on cars and had a car of his own since he was 14 years old. Frank became very independent at an early age after his mom separated from his dad who suffered from alcoholism. As a Jr in High School, Frank moved to live in the basement at a friend’s house, joined the Naval Reserves, and drove to St Louis each month for his drill weekends. After dating Sue for several years, they decided to get married. Sue quit HS her senior year to marry Frank who graduated a year earlier and was afraid he might lose her if she continued to go to High School without him being there. So, Sue went through catechism as a requirement to marry into Frank’s family and they exchanged their vows on a cool spring day on March 15, 1958. They initially lived in an apartment in Granite City, IL. Frank worked at another gas station for a friend the first 6 months they were married, then he went to work in the steel mill. By the summer of the following year, they had their first child Cynthia Marie on July 26, 1959. Within 6 months, Frank was called to Active Duty from the Naval Reserves in Jan 1960 and attended Avionics A School in Millington. During this time Sue became pregnant again and they moved in with Sue’s mom. Frank’s Aviation Electronics training lasted 6 months and he would hitchhike 300 miles each way to home on weekends to see his family. A couple months prior to the end of his training, they had their second daughter Laura, born on Aug 18, 1960 in Granite City, IL. Frank was promoted to ATAN (an E-3 Aviation Electronics technician) after completing his training in Millington and was given orders to McGuire AFB in Trenton NJ when Laura was 2 months old. Sue recalls her mother, Grandma Presley almost disowning her for taking her 2 grand babies away. They packed up a U-Haul with just a bedroom set, 2 cribs and some clothes, then headed off to Trenton, NJ without knowing where they were going to live. Sue recalls money was tight at the beginning, they would get a pound of beans for 17 cents and that would be their meal. She helped bring in some money by working at a transit hotel on McGuire AFB, or later at the base cafeteria, and Frank worked after hours at a local gas station. They lived in a third-floor apartment above a hardware store, with the owners on the second floor. There was plastic on the inside of the windows, but they could still feel the frigid air coming in the apartment in the winter. During their tour in NJ, Sue experienced a tragic loss with a miscarriage, but God was gracious, and she discovered she was expecting again. However, Melanie made a surprise debut a month early on November 10, 1962. Frank was rapidly promoted to AT-2 (Avionics Technician Second Class) by the end of his tour in NJ, which was supporting the transitioning of Navy aircraft to the Air Force. Little did Dad know at the time that this joint command work experience with the Air Force, God was preparing him for a critical role as a technician in support of advanced equipment being developed jointly with the Navy and the Air Force for deployment in Vietnam. When Melanie was about 6 months old, the Battreal family moved to Millington, TN, while Frank attended Avionics B School for 9 months in 1963. Sue recalls accepting Christ as her personal Savior at East Acres Baptist church on Navy Rd that was at the entrance of the subdivision in which they lived and just down the street from the base where Frank was in training. After completion of B School in Millington, TN, Frank was given orders to the warmer climate of Coronado on a peninsula of San Diego Bay in Southern California for training on the maintenance of drone helicopters. In need of a new vehicle, they had bought a brand-new Plymouth automobile while on leave in St Louis. During the drive to California, their car broke down in Amarillo, TX in the middle of the night. The entire family had to hitch a ride with an 18-wheeler to the nearest truck stop. But God was watching over them, the warranty covered the car to be towed and fixed the very next day they were back on the road to Coronado. After several months in training at Coronado, they continued on to an even more tropical location for Frank’s sea duty assignment in Hawaii. During this move in 1964, Sue was feeling a little ill, only to later discover she was expecting again. And while Frank was on a destroyer off the coast of Vietnam, Sue was again dropped off at a hospital by a neighbor at night while in labor, where James was born on March 24, 1965 at Tripler AFB. At that time across the Pacific on a hot, humid destroyer rolling in the waves, Frank would keep the drones in good repair for their missions during the day and recalls taking his cot out of berthing below deck and sleeping up on the drone’s flight deck at night because it was cooler. The Drone was an Anti-Submarine Helicopter on board destroyers and were designed to drop depth changes or torpedoes for anti-submarine warfare; however, Frank’s mission was to provide technical support for its use over land to provide close air support for troops in Vietnam. Frank said the destroyers would pull in as close to the shore as possible then the controller in the CIC (Combat Information Center) would fly the drone helicopter to its target and release its payload. They would spend nights doing repair and weapons loading and launch them during the day based on radio requests for close air support from the ground troops. The drones were expendable, but they were able to recover about 80% of them. They later added cameras and used the drones for reconnaissance as well. For the first year in Hawaii, they lived off base in a 3-bedroom rental and all their neighbors did not speak English. Sue said the only place she found somebody who spoke English was when she went to church. After a year, they moved on base into a 4BR duplex at Barbers Point, HI. Cindy recalls attending Kindergarten in Hawaii. She would attend a local Baptist Church in HI with her mom when dad was deployed and would attend a catholic church when Frank was not deployed. Cindy recalls wanting to go to the Catholic Church with her Dad, because she would be back home in an hour, rather than going with her mom and being gone all morning. Frank was promoted to AT-1 (Aviation Electronics Technician First Class) during that tour in Hawaii and then received orders for shore duty in Meridian, MS. During their returned to the states from Hawaii, they took a dependents cruise on the carrier to San Francisco that lasted 5 days. Sue said that was her first and last cruise, she didn’t like how the ship was rolling side to side and was concerned if the noises on the ship were normal. Frank was used to being on a destroyer in the South Pacific with a bunch of sweaty men, so being on a carrier dependents cruise was like being on a luxury cruise ship. The kids had activities during the day and Sue recalls James bouncing off the bulkheads while walking down the corridors on the ship that was rolling back and forth from the seas that were more rough than usual. They chose to take the ship back to the states, because they were bringing a car back with them from Hawaii. Then they took a 3-day car trip to see Family in Illinois prior to going onto their next duty station in Meridian, MS. During the drive from San Diego to Illinois, Sue recalls that it was so hot driving through the desert, it melted the box of crayons she bought for the kids to occupy their time. Frank drove the entire way, Sue offered to drive but said he was a macho man and felt it was a manly thing to do. It was a culture shock moving from Honolulu, HI to Meridian MS in 1967. Frank was assigned to a Navy Squadron and made ATC (Chief Aviation Electronics Technician) during his tour. They lived in town their first year then moved into base housing. Sue attended Hickory Grove Baptist Church behind the back gate of base housing. Frank again had second job driving a fuel truck for the first year but was able to give up that second job when he was promoted to chief, because Sue said she needed him home for some adult conversation. When Frank made chief, he went to PCOLA Chief’s Academy that was like a boot camp for chiefs, and said he had a great time. Sue recalls attending Frank’s graduation ceremony with great pride. There are many childhood memories from this and later duty stations their kids share with laughter at family gatherings. Frank would laugh and always enjoy those times together. Frank then transferred to Albany, GA in 1969 and worked for a year for QA (Quality Assurance). Frank and family then went back to Millington for 9 months of Avionics C School. Since they only had 1 car at this time, Frank agreed to attend church with Sue for 1 year. They attended Munford Baptist Church, and Cindy recalls her dad attending a several night revival. Frank recalls the Lord calling him while he clung with white knuckles on the pew in front of him. God won and Frank surrendered his life to the Lord that evening in the humble setting of a small rural church in Munford, TN. Frank was never the same after that. He took his relationship with Christ seriously, he had a hunger for God’s Word, a love for God’s people and a passion for reaching the lost. Frank considered Millington TN as hallowed ground for his family, because both Sue and later Frank were saved there during 2 separate tours in Millington. While they were in Millington, Frank’s dad passed away. The one and only time Frank’s dad visited their home was about 2 weeks before he died, and Frank had the opportunity to share with his dad, who had come to get some seedlings to take back to his property. Two weeks later his father passed away from a heart attack. Frank would always comment on seeing the hand of God at work in His life. The family then went back to Albany, GA in 1971. Frank earned another promotion to ATCS (Senior Chief Aviation Electronics Technician). They joined a local church, bought a home and established deep roots in the community with plans to retire in that area. Short of Key West, their time in Albany, GA was filled with many great family memories of childhood antics and spiritual growth. They were blessed to enjoy quality family time with Dad, a husband and father who was rapidly maturing in his walk with Christ. Life was good, God is good! Then the Navy closed the base in Albany and moved the squadrons to Key West, FL in 1973. Sue and the kids did not have a good first impression of the Florida Keys when they arrived in Key Largo as the fish odor filled their car. They rolled up their windows and held their noses for several miles. After arriving in Key West, they first lived in a 3 BR duplex in Sigsbee Base Housing. James had a bedroom, and all 3 girls shared a bedroom. Cindy and Laura had their furniture in the girls’ bedroom, while Melanie was allowed to only have a bed in their room, her dresser was in the hallway, and her clothes were in James’s closet. Following military protocol with rank having its privileges, Cindy and Laura wouldn’t let Melanie come into the bedroom until she was ready to go to bed. They lived in that house for about a year before they moved to Poinciana. Frank was in RVAH-5 on sea duty soon after they transferred to Key West, then in 1974 he reached the top of the enlisted rank as an Avionics Master Chief and was transferred to shore duty as the Command Master Chief for AIMD (Aircraft Intermediate Maintenance Department) at NAS Key West. My first introduction to Frank was at his home in Poinciana base housing during a rainstorm in Key West. These frequent torrential downpours would inevitably cause the water to shut off, which on this particular day occurred while Frank was in the shower and had just fully lathered up with soap. Being a resourceful Master Chief, he slipped on his shorts, ran down the stairs of his 2-story townhouse and out the back door to rinse off in the rainwater pouring off the roof. There was my first vision of Frank, singing in the rain and taking a shower in his back yard. Frank and Sue loved the Lord and they loved people. It is easy to see how they became Mom and Dad to many young servicemen away from home. They had an open-door policy, opening their home for servicemen to hangout, watch TV and even stay for dinner, unless they were having liver and onions ;-) Frank was faithful in starting each day in God’s Word and in prayerful devotion with the Lord. He encouraged young servicemen to join him in these before dawn meetings with God (and as a young man I tried, but I couldn’t keep my eyes open). He had a heart to pour his life into young men to help them mature in their walk with God. Like every fine Navy family, but much to the kids’ despair, they had field day on Saturday mornings. Sue was in charge and nobody left the house until she said everything was done. Dad would have outside chores and errands to run and I was more than happy to join him. In Key West, Sue worked as the church secretary and choir director at Fifth Street Baptist church. Cindy and Laura both attended all 4 years of High School in Key West and graduated there. Melanie attended 5th grade through 10th grade and James attended 3rd through 8th grade in Key West. While in Key West, Frank married off his 1st daughter Cindy, who recalls standing with her dad right before walking down the aisle and saying to him, “Dad I’m scared.” He said, “That’s nice, let’s go!” They transferred to Mayport, FL in 1978 and Frank had to deploy on the USS Saratoga. Frank had a very successful career with the Navy, but after his deployment in 1979 to the Med, he knew it was time to retire. God was calling him to be at home more. He missed his wife, his children and his church family. After Frank retired from the Navy in 1980, he had a civilian job all lined up to fill a vacancy for someone that was retiring, but that person decided not to retire 3 days before Frank was supposed to start his new job. Frank took the setback in stride and trusted the Lord. He bounced around to a few jobs, working night shifts at a Little General convenience store, then tried his hand at selling water softeners. After a year of odd jobs, the original offer became available again with Leeds & Northrup and he worked for them until age 55, servicing the servo-control industrial monitoring devices they sold. Frank said, He enjoyed getting out from a leadership position he was in at the end of his Navy career and going back to actually performing the work with electronics he was initially trained to do in the Navy. Frank covered the southeast as far north as Richmond, VA all along the eastern seaboard to the Florida Keys. He had to work out of 2 offices, one in Jacksonville and the other in Atlanta and it was a couple years before they allowed him to close the Jacksonville office and move to Atlanta. They moved to Conyers, GA in 1990 to be in a more central location with Leeds & Northrup, they bought a new house and joined Eastwood Baptist Church. Things were looking up, then Frank lost his job (but not his faith). Leeds & Northrup was bought by Honeywell and on one evening Dad won an award for the best service area of all regions and the next morning he was called into the office to be told Honeywell was not going to provide service support for their equipment, so the service division would be eliminated. Frank did not lose heart and he again saw the hand of God turn the elimination of his job into a blessing. They offered a severance package, that included giving Frank all the service equipment he was using on the condition that he would contract with Honeywell to continue to provide technical repair service to Honeywell’s customers. So, he formed a personal company named Control Mart and Sue helped with the administrative side of the business. Frank and Sue retired from Control Mart in 2003 and they moved to St Augustine in June of that same year. They loved the area, and it was close to 2 of their children. They helped support a grand daughter who was a single mom and played an instrumental role in raising 2 grandsons during their most formidable years. They were the smartest and most spiritual young boys I had ever known. Each time Frank and Sue moved, one of their first priorities was to find a church home. In St Augustine, God led them to Turning Point at Calvary Baptist Church and this has been a church home that dad could not say enough good things about. Over the past nearly half a century, Frank has been a faithful servant of the Lord, serving as a deacon and chairman of deacons, involved on a multitude of committees, a Sunday School teacher, making a joyful noise in the choir, discipling many young men, mentoring his son-in-laws and treating them as his own. He was a faithful Gideon, active in their camp activities, serving in many officer positions including his best suited role as chaplain, and he had many stories of salvation through the jail ministry he was faithfully serving. All while Sue supported him by also being a co-laborer in Christ at their church teaching Sunday School, singing in the choir and serving in the Gideons wives Auxiliary. As Frank would say, “It’s all because of God!” All of dad’s faithful service for the Lord, His gentle and encouraging speech, his positive attitude during the trials of life, how he showed respect and honor for Sue, and love for his family, all stemmed from his daily quiet time each morning with the Lord. I don’t know a man who is more faithful, more genuine or lived with more integrity than Frank James Battreal, Jr. He was a father I never had, my spiritual mentor, my brother in Christ, and my friend. Dad would spend every morning reading God’s Word and praying. At his desk he kept his Bible, a Gideon daily reading plan to read through the Bible in a year, a Daily Bread devotional guide open to Dec 20, 2020 with a check mark that he completed it, and a prayer journal that listed all his descendant’s names by families with dates of who and what he was praying for. Time does not permit me to read them all, but there is a prayer for his wife Sue that I would like to read: “Pray for my sweetheart, my companion for life, I am richly blessed living with the queen of our family. God is so good.” The following are brief excerpts from the last passages that dad read from God’s Word, which I believe was not a coincidence that God spoke these Words to dad at this particular time in his life. From the Gideon reading plan Dec 20, 2020: Micah 4,5 (4:2-4) “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.” The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 3 He will judge between many peoples and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. 4 Everyone will sit under their own vine and under their own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid, for the LORD Almighty has spoken. Revelation 11 (11:15) The 7th trumpet (the last trumpet sounding, 7 is the number for completeness in the Bible) 15 The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign for ever and ever.” From the Daily Bread devotional Dec 20, 2020: Psalm 23 1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. 3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. 4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me 5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. Death is a doorway into eternity, which dad just went through. His wholehearted desire was and is that each one of us in the sound of my voice would be able to join him in paradise by surrendering all we know about ourselves to all we know about God, believing that Jesus is God in the flesh, that He died to pay the penalty for our sins and that He was raised from the dead to demonstrate His victory over death. If we confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in our heart that God raised Him from the dead, we shall be saved and will with dad, “dwell in the house of the LORD forever.” Amen. (Written by Don Edgerly, condensed from a recording during a family gathering in Frank and Sue’s home on 7/28/2019 and read during the “Celebration of Life” ceremony at Turning Point at Calvary Baptist Church on 1/12/2021)