Brother Francis W. Turnbull, SJ, Frank to those who knew and loved him, was born on July 24th, 1939, in New York City’s Kings County, more commonly, and indeed more affectionately, known as Brooklyn; and he graduated from Cardinal Hayes High School, Bronx, NY, in 1957. Although he had been at St. Andrew-on-Hudson, Poughkeepsie, NY, for several months as a postulant, he formally entered the Society of Jesus there as a Novice Brother on July 30, 1961. Two years later, Frank took his first vows on the feast of St. Ignatius and moved on to what was then known as the “Brothers’ Juniorate” at the Jesuit Novitiate in Milford, Ohio, for two years (1963-65).
After completing his juniorate program, Frank was assigned back to Brooklyn as the Assistant Registrar at the Jesuits’ Brooklyn Prep where he remained until it closed in 1972. After one year as registrar at Canisius High School in Buffalo, NY, Frank headed to Jersey City to what is now St. Peter’s University where for the next eleven years (1973-84) he served at various times and in numerous capacities: in the community as secretary to the Rector, Treasurer and Subminister and in the College as secretary to the Director of the Recreation Center and Assistant to the Treasurer.
In 1984, Frank moved to Manhattan where he was assigned, for the first time, to the America House Jesuit Community, where for eleven years (1984-95), he worked as Assistant to the Editor and then Managing Editor of America Magazine. During these years, Frank earned himself a year’s sabbatical which he spent in, of all places, Benin City, Nigeria, where he helped manage the Jesuit Retreat House (1993-94).
In 1995, Frank moved for a year (1995-96) to Washington, D.C., to be Executive Assistant at the Jesuit Secondary Education Association. This brief assignment was followed by four years (1996-2000) as Administrative Assistant to the Principal of St. Peter’s Prep in Jersey City, NJ, who said of Frank, “I was a young principal in those days. Frank made me and Prep better. While I hated losing him, I was delighted he went back to America, his first love.”
And so it was, from Jersey City Frank moved back to the America House Jesuit Community where for the next fifteen years (2000-15) he worked happily and capably as an Assistant Editor of America Magazine until, in January of 2016, his failing health necessitated his move to the Jesuit Health Center at Murray-Weigel Hall in the Bronx. All in all Frank spent 26 years doing full-time editorial work at America Magazine, and from 2016 up to and including the most recent edition of the magazine Frank’s name has appeared, just before that of the Board of Directors’ Chair, as Editor Emeritus(Emeritus, indeed!).
Frank loved visits from his family. He truly enjoyed watching his favorite sports programs and gleefully took part in the M-W-K annual football pool. He had a great smile and a warm and welcoming sense of humor. He could make any visitor or new community member feel immediately at home. Scripture reminds us that “The Spirit blows where it wills,” and in recent weeks Frank, no doubt prayed that the Spirit would breathe new air into his failing lungs. Those lungs finally gave out and Frank died peacefully on July 15th just a novena short of his 86th birthday. We are confident that the Lord whom he served so well for so many years has welcomed him to eternal life and made him feel immediately at home.
Click here to light a Virtual Candle in memoriam of the life and legacy of Br. Frank Turnbull, SJ.
