Frank Tremaine passed away in Savannah, Ga. on Dec. 7. His life ended on the 65th anniversary of his noisy entrance into the annals of war, reporting Pearl Harbor Day.
Mr. Tremaine was born in Detroit, Mich., on May 30, 1914, and reared in Pasadena, Cal., where he moved with his mother after the death of his father.
Frank Tremaine began his news career as a United Press campus correspondent at Stanford University from which he graduated in 1936. Two days later, he went to work in the three-man Salt Lake City United Press bureau, after which followed assignments in San Diego, Cal., San Francisco, Cal., and New York, N.Y.
On Sept. 2, 1939, he married Katherine Newland, whom he met in the fifth grade, and went on to become high school sweethearts. In 1940, they relocated to Honolulu, Hawaii when he was named Pacific Bureau Manager for United Press. It was later reported that Tremaine’s news flash on the Pearl Harbor attack was the first to reach the outside world, and he and Kay’s phone calls provided the first eyewitness report of the day. He was United Press’s first postwar Tokyo bureau manager, and then went on to assignments in Mexico and Central America, Los Angeles, Cal. and back to Tokyo to direct coverage of the Korean War in 1950-51.
Reflecting the transient life of a news service reporter, their daughter Nancy was born in 1944 in Honolulu, Hawaii, and their son, Frank G., in Mexico in 1948.
He moved to the United Press headquarters in New York in 1952 where he filled a variety of vice-presidential posts, including general manager of UPI News pictures, general business manager, general manager of North America, and manager of International operations. He was named Senior Vice President in 1972, and retired in June of 1980, after 44 years of service.
During Frank and Kay’s 28 years in the New York area, they lived in Scarsdale, N.Y. and Rye Town, N.Y. He was a member of the Dutch Treat Club and Society of Professional Journalists in New York, the Scarsdale Golf Club, Fox Meadow Tennis Club, and the Shenorock Shore Club. The Tremaines also were members of the Hitchcock Presbyterian Church in Scarsdale, and the Rye Presbyterian Church. In Savannah, Ga., Mr. Tremaine was a member of the Savannah Yacht Club, Savannah Golf Club, and Cosmos Club.
He did volunteer work for Habitat for Humanity, Meals on Wheels, and served as a “Secret Santa” every Christmas Day. He taught a graduate class in mass communications at Savannah State University, and was a member of the Wilmington Island Presbyterian Church for over 25 years.
After retirement, the Tremains spent their winters in Savannah, Ga. and summers in Christmas Cove.
Surviving are his wife, Katherine N. Tremaine; daughter, Nancy Tremaine; and son, Frank G. “Pancho” Tremaine.
Mr. Tremaine requested cremation with no funeral or memorial services.
Remembrances may be made to the Damariscotta River Association, P.O. Box 333, Damariscotta, ME 04543 or the Boothbay Region Humane Society, P.O. Box 303, Boothbay Harbor, ME 04538.
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