Frank P. Russo II
Frank P. Russo II passed away the evening of August 28, 2023 at Marshall Hospital, Placerville, California after a long fight with chronic lymphocytic leukemia. He recently was preceded in death by his wife, Barbara F. Russo, who passed away March 13, 2023.
Known as “Cheech” around town, Frank was always wearing his cowboy hat and Italian sunglasses. He always had something clever to say, in his East Coast accent, which was usually unexpected just to get a reaction or a laugh. He loved socializing, playing golf, grocery shopping, cooking, and dining out at Italian Restaurants. He once hit a hole-in-one on September of 1966 at the 6th hole, San Marcos Pass Golf Course, Santa Barbara, California. He also participated for many years, along with his wife, at Placerville’s Shakespeare Club.
Frank P. Russo II was born in Queens, New York, on April 10, 1932, in a home his father built. He was the first born son to Viola and Rosario Russo. He was named after his beloved grandfather Frank Paul Russo, who had traveled to America from Nicosia Sicily, Italy and had become a successful businessman and farmer in New York. When Frank was a young boy he spent his summers with his grandfather on his 365 acre ranch in Hopewell Junction, New York. Farming became young Frank’s passion, leading him to switch high schools to enroll at a Farmers Program at New Town High. Frank had to get up extra early every day to get across town, taking a trolley back and forth to school. Then he went off to college, where he graduated in 1948 from the University New York Delhi, majoring in Agriculture.
In 1953 Frank enlisted in the Army, with a good friend Thomas “Tommy” Lindblom, and the pair was stationed at Fort Ord, California. The two young men purchased their first car together, a green 1949 Ford Convertible and then drove from New York to the West Coast together. Their convertible made them quite popular around the military base. They would often travel to Santa Barbara – where Frank met and fell in love with his first wife Mona Best. They married in 1955 and purchased their first home in Goleta, California where they welcomed their son Frank P. Russo III in 1956.
Frank followed in his family’s footsteps of being in the construction business and became a licensed contractor. He specialized in stucco, which perfectly fit into the Santa Barbara architecture.
When he moved to Placerville in 1978 he built his own home with stucco and Spanish tile roofing. He continued as a stucco contractor in Northern California until he retired in Placerville, California.
Frank P. Russo II is survived by his brother Charles “Sandy” Russo and his wife Madeline and their children of Flushing, New York; his son Frank P. Russo III and his wife Elizabeth of Virginia Beach, Virginia and their children and grandchildren; daughter Angela Meisenheimer and her husband James of Dixon, California and their sons; daughter Marie Demo and her husband Murray and their children, of Los Altos, California; daughter Suzanne Sloss and her husband Raymond and her daughters and grandchildren of Palmer, Alaska.
In lieu of flowers kindly make a donation to Snowline Hospice of El Dorado County.
A Military Service is scheduled for Dec 15, 2023 at 2:00 p.m. at the Sacramento Valley National Cemetery, 5810 Midway Rd, Dixon, California. Private reception to follow.