PORT TOWNSEND — Frank d’Amore, local restaurateur, entrepreneur and raconteur, was celebrated in an emotional memorial service at Fort Worden State Park. About 250 people filled the USO Building to capacity in the Sunday ceremony.
The tributes were often irreverent, recalling d’Amore’s volatility and loquaciousness along with his generous nature.
D’Amore, 60, died Aug. 8, the day after his first grandchild, Theodore Arthur Babcock, was born. D’Amore was aware of the birth but never met his grandchild, who was born in California to his daughter, Simone.
Sunday’s service was delayed to accommodate Simone’s ability to travel.
Gabriel d’Amore, Frank d’Amore’s son and Theodore’s uncle, framed his tribute in the form of a letter to Theodore.
“It’s a shame that you never had a chance to meet him because I really think you would have liked him,” the letter began. “He probably spread himself way too thin during his brief time. He had the tendency to start overwhelming projects and then get distracted and start another.
“But he was a devoted father. He never didn’t have time for us, and as his grandchild you would have felt his unwavering devotion.”
“Frank would never use 10 words when 10,000 would do,” said Linda Yakush, d’Amore’s life and business partner. “Our fights were epic, but they never went beyond the moment for him.”
Yakush said she was relaxing at home 12 years ago, when d’Amore, whom she knew casually, stopped by and offered to help move her boat.
“I didn’t need the boat moved, but I invited him in for a drink,” Yakush said. “He never left.”
D’Amore also was eulogized by ex-wife Judy D’Amore, the mother of his children, who said d’Amore was “an amazing ex-husband — his heart was in the right place, and he did way beyond what any other ex-husband would have done.”
She recalled the 1970s, when d’Amore held a variety of jobs that he would lose after arguing with the boss. This was never a setback.
“He would lose a job and then talk himself into another job that he was not at all qualified for,” she said. “You never knew what was going to come out of his mouth; he could talk about anything.”
Later in the service, Matt Sircely provided the musical interlude, performing U. Utah Phillips’ “Bread and Roses,” which d’Amore had chosen as the name for his restaurant.
Sircely said that Phillips visited Port Townsend in the 1980s and was ready to confront d’Amore about his use of “Bread and Roses” because it diluted the pro-union message of the song.
D’Amore defended the choice, producing a songbook with lyrics included. He then recruited Phillips to play an impromptu afternoon concert, held in the space outside of what is now the Courtyard Cafe.
Sircely also credited d’Amore with acting as a catalyst in the creation of the busker environment at Pike Place Market in Seattle.
In the 1970s, d’Amore was playing outside the market when busking was still illegal.
He got a ticket and a fine. The next day, a handful of the city’s most prominent jazz musicians went to the same corner and played for free, calling attention to the anti-busking law and bringing about its revocation.
D’Amore’s ashes were contained in an onstage urn during the Fort Worden service. Instead of being scattered, they will stay with the family, Yakush said.
The service lasted about 75 minutes, after which time mourners shared a potluck dinner and reminisced about d’Amore for more than an hour.
A scholarship has been set up in d’Amore’s name that is intended to send someone to baking school each year.
The scholarship is being administered by the Jefferson Community Foundation with contributions received at 219 W. Patison St., Port Hadlock, WA 98339.
Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
