John Ernest Frost

I write with great sadness of the passing of John Ernest Frost. He left this earth on March 10, 2013, at or about 12:45am at the age of 91 years. He claimed to be a true native, saying he was born in Medina to Mr. and Mrs. Frost on November 10, 1921. He used that statement about being a true native when he was elected a councilman for Medina.

I do not know his father's name, but it should be on record somewhere. He made his living as a jack of all trades, working in the Medina area. Dad told me his father and one of his father's friends dug a lot of the wells in the Medina area, those being the only source of water for the homes. Before marrying, his father lived in a cabin he had built, in a wooded tract of land that later became a large horse ranch, and eventually the Medina Golf and Country Club. When he married, he and his bride lived at 7777 - NE 16th Street in Medina, where John grew up. You can still see several of the large rhododendrons bordering the sidewalk today.

His mother - Anne Halvorson came from a poor fishing village on the coast of Norway. In those days, when the family saved enough money for passage, they would send one of their kids off to America. Anne left Norway at the age of about 18, and from the east coast, worked for the railroads cooking and doing laundry. She ended up in the Pacific Northwest where she married Johns father. Much of this is as he related it to me, many of the dates could probably be found, but is is a brief story of his life. Anne was the only person that could make lutefisk that tasted good.

Much of the following years he didn't talk about to me, so there are a lot of blanks. He did say he worked on the docks during the war years loading and unloading ships during black out conditions. He bought the Medina Grocery with a partner, and later bought him out. John ran the store, keeping it as close as possible to its original condition. About 1957 he married June Shearer, and they moved to their home at 1425 - 80th NE where they soon became involved in rose growing and exhibiting. Both John and June became rose show judges, and had over 400 rose plants in their yard. Mother passed away at home, and some years later, John had to enter a full care facility. There is so much that hasn't been mentioned, it would fill a book, but that is it in brief. In fact, John did write a book, on roses of course.