Frank Dominick Inderbitzen

Frank Dominick Inderbitzen, 72, a resident of both Fremont and Arnold, California, passed away on Friday, July 15th, 2016. Frank was born on April 22, 1944 in San Jose, California to Frank and Elsie (Suter) Inderbitzen. He was the third child of four siblings and the youngest son in the family. Frank grew up in Manteca, California and was raised on a farm with his family, which made him no stranger to hard work. He attended Manteca High School and graduated in 1962, he then eventually enlisted into the United States Air Force on August 1st, 1963. While enlisted in the Air Force, he was educated in the field of airline mechanics and spent his years of service stationed in Okinawa. During his service he created lifelong friendships, began courting his beautiful future wife, Beatriz Cuevas, and managed to attain a Black Belt in Okinawa Shorin-Ryu Karate from a local instructor. He received his Honorable Discharge from the Air Force in 1967. After his Honorable Discharge, Frank and Bea moved to San Bruno, California, where he found employment with United Airlines utilizing his education in airline mechanics he received during his service with the Air Force. He worked for United Airlines for two years before an unexpected array of layoffs within the company left him without work. Frank was undaunted and quickly found employment with Cloverdale Creamery in Fremont where he performed delivery duties on a milk route. He worked for Cloverdale Creamery for two years before he was able to return to United Airlines where he worked relentlessly for 35 years until he retired approximately 12 years ago. Frank was a tenacious worker and had a commitment to working any and all overtime he could find with United. He had a saying, “Never say NO to Mr. Dollar!” and his work ethic throughout his lifetime was a testament to that statement. Frank’s work ethic transcended beyond the work place. He constantly worked and kept himself busy in everyday life. He was an avid sports enthusiast and was not only involved with coaching and detailed stats with all his children’s sports, he also continued to give his time with coaching other various teams even after his children were long done with their sporting events. Frank had touched hundreds of children’s lives through coaching and was still remembered as “Coach Frank” until this day. Frank not only loved coaching sports but was a dedicated fan and unwaveringly loyal to his favorite sports teams. His love of the Oakland A’s and San Francisco 49ers (at least until the 49ers last season!) was known to all, just as his hatred of the San Francisco Giants was legendary! Not a week went by that he didn’t remind anyone and everyone of his coined phrase, “I hate Giants!”. During his lifetime, Frank enjoyed his hobbies of mountain biking and woodcutting. He took pride in keeping himself in shape and loved the challenge and reward of riding to the top of Mission Peak. He was religious with his weekly bike rides, and became a familiar face at Mission Peak where he even had a picture of him riding put on a brochure for the Peak. He attacked the various paths at Mission Peak like he attacked any challenges in his life and was relentless with his efforts to be better. He had conquered a particular difficult section of the Peak so well, that the staff there unofficially proclaimed it “Frank’s Hill”. Frank put the same amount of hard work into his other hobby of woodcutting. There wasn’t a moment during his free time that he wasn’t splitting wood or scouting fallen trees for more wood in his never ending wood splitting hobby. He took pride in helping the residents of Arnold with their wood and was constantly removing lumber for free and giving out larger amounts of wood than what people had ordered. He was always extremely generous with his friends and neighbors, earning the affectionate nickname of “Mr. Nice Guy” and would never shy away from lending an unprompted helping hand. Frank was also a devout Catholic and had a ferocious love for his ethnicity. He never failed to miss his weekly mass and was always ready to donate his time to Our Lady of the Sierra in Arnold where he eagerly handled the collection basket duties. When it came to his ethnic background, his pride in being Swiss was prevalent in his life. He was constantly visiting and donating his time to the Newark Swiss Park and still carried his longtime and lifetime membership card to the San Joaquin Swiss Club in his wallet. There wasn’t a vehicle he owned that wasn’t immediately plastered with “CH” or Swiss flag emblems, he had a flag pole erected at the home in Arnold where he proudly displayed his American and Swiss flags, and he had adorned his father’s old refurbished “goat shack” with endless Swiss paraphernalia. He relished in telling stories of his family history along with the background and meaning to every Swiss related item he owned. No one could contest that he was pure Swiss, through and through. Frank is survived by his wife Bea Inderbitzen of 48 years; two sons, Lance Frank Inderbitzen and Zandy Jorin Inderbitzen and his daughter Monic Marie (Inderbitzen) Coates; one brother, Thomas Inderbitzen, two sisters, Elizabeth Niederberger and Louise Inderbitzen; six grandchildren, Thomas and Cassie Nelson, Sage and Jade Inderbitzen, Audrey and Cruz Inderbitzen, as well as one great grandchild, Presley Nelson and many nieces, nephews and other relatives and friends. Visitation will be held on Thursday, August 4th, from 4-8pm with a Vigil at 6pm at Fremont Memorial Chapel, 3723 Peralta Blvd., Fremont, CA 94536. Funeral Mass will be celebrated on Saturday, August 6th, 11am at Our Lady of the Sierra Catholic Church, 1301 Linebaugh Rd., Arnold, CA 95223. Burial will follow at St. Patrick Cemetery in Murphys, CA.

Frank Dominick Inderbitzen

April 22, 1944 - July 15, 2016