UNCHARTERED TERRITORY:

For many captains, their lives are defined by the sea. But Capt. Frank Ready’s most significant accomplishments in life came on land while serving the Lord.

Loving the strangers among us

It was early in his marriage to Mary Ready that Frank became moved by the many hurting children he worked with at school.

As a result, he became a foster parent and lavished money, time and love on each one.

“He has many success stories with these kids, often hearing from them as adults telling him what a positive impact he had on their lives,” Mary told The Log. “Same goes for the thousands of kids he has counseled at FWBHS.”

Frank also became concerned about foreign students who came to Destin to work, but were often abandoned by the agency that brought them here and left stranded with no way to return home.

“In 2005, he took in two Romanian students, Amalia Cotoc and Nicoleta Van Dyke, and fell in love with them like a father,” Mary said. “He became their American sponsor and offered to support them as they finished college in the USA. One is now a mental health registered nurse and one is a successful businesswoman. Since both no longer have their dads — both of them died in Romania — they consider him Dad.”

One student from Moldova whom Frank helped is now finishing up her degree to become a doctor back in her home country, and another one from Moldova is finishing law school. One summer, he had six kids he helped in some way.

“When immigration would not allow one of his Romanian ‘daughters’ to attend her father’s funeral in Romania and return to America, even though she was legal and enrolled at Northwest Florida State, he and I went in her place to pay respects to her family and be of help,” Mary said.

It is on holidays and his birthday that the captain hears from some of the many students he has helped. According to Mary, he “kind of collects ‘stray people’ and an occasional stray dog.” He has made two trips to Boone, N.C., on a Christian mission to prepare Christmas shoeboxes for shipment to deserving children not only in the United States, but also around the world.

His generosity to others is boundless and even if sometimes not returned, it doesn’t stop him from having a heart that’s as big as the vast Gulf waters he so loves.

“One year when he was working at Fort Walton Beach High School, he personally baked and decorated 13 heart-shaped cakes for the ladies in the school’s administrative offices on Valentine’s Day,” Mary said. “He’s a great pastry chef, but makes an awful mess in the kitchen.”

The Man of Faith

Frank’s faith has always been evident in his life — at church, at school and on the water.

He is a past deacon and trustee of First Baptist Church of Destin and for many years was “hands-on” active in its ministries, serving Jesus any way he could.

His faith was evident on his boat, not only when witnessing about the boat’s name, but also in the fishing.

“I liked to sing hymns to the fish when the catching was slow, and it usually worked to get a strike,” Capt. Frank said. “Maybe they were coming up from the bottom to hear me sing, or maybe they came up to complain, but I got 'em either way.”

On the docks, Frank was often teased by other captains when he chose to go out on a really rough day, known as a “Frank Ready Day.”

His favorite Bible verses reflect his attitude about the sea and spirituality.

“They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters;

These see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep.

He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.

Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.” — Psalm 107: 23-24, 29-30.

“I was kind of fearless … my wife says foolish,” he said. “As I grew older, I became less willing to test God's patience with me and stayed in safe harbor on a bad day.”

In counseling students and in the public school setting, he could not directly share his faith, but he used the principles of Jesus and the Ten Commandments — not just scripture, but also as a common sense list of right things to do.

“My beliefs came through as a response to what is the right thing to do in a given situation,” the captain said. “However, if asked directly I never denied Christ and always answered ‘yes,’ when asked if I was a Christian. But I tried always to treat people in such a way that they didn't even have to ask. They would know by my attitude and behavior.”

Today, Frank has had to give up many of the things he loves — scuba diving, motorcycle rallies in Daytona, RV trips around the United States, water skiing, hunting and most of all, his charter boat business.

Yet his attitude is always cheerful and optimistic.

“A broken neck in 2007 ended his career as a fisherman,” his wife, Mary, told The Log. “The day he fell and broke his neck, he had just gotten back from a particularly great charter trip, mowed the lawn, prepared lunch and felt wonderful. Getting up from the sofa to answer the phone, he passed out. When he woke up, his life was completely changed.”

His health is not good, the result of 45 years of Type One diabetes. He has poor eyesight, peripheral neuropathy, balance problems, a heart condition and has suffered several mild strokes. Yet he continues on, opening a car lot in Fort Walton Beach to keep his mind busy from the wheelchair — and to help a good friend fulfill a dream.

Frank has lived a full life — a life of faith and generosity, a life of helping others through his guidance as a counselor and on his Second Chance as a fisherman.

“I'm a hard man to get down,” he said. “I keep trying to do what I'm told I cannot do. Like any other sinner, I am imperfect. But I am an imperfect Christian who knows he has eternal life through the mercy and sacrifice of God.”

And in his words, he wants to be remembered “as a man who served God's purpose by serving others.”