Susan Frantzich honored for 38 years on CVMD Board

On December 8th the Clovis Veterans Memorial District (CVMD) Board of Directors honored Susan Frantzich’s 38 years of board membership and retirement.

On January 12th, her daughter Heather Frantzich will be sworn in as a member of the board.

“It’s definitely bittersweet,” says Heather Frantzich, on taking over her mother’s seat on the board, “but I’m blessed and I’m honored to continue that legacy, it really means the world to me.“

Susan Frantzich says that her career on the board actually began in 1981, when Wayne Rohde stepped down, but she was sworn in officially in 1984.

“When I started, the ballroom was 2 basketball courts with pull-down bleachers, Rex was the district manager and he had one secretary and one maintenance man.”

Since then, the CVMD has grown both in staff and construction, adding more facilities and programs to serve veterans and active military, and to extend that legacy of service to the greater community.

In a video honoring Susan Frantzich’s years of service that was posted to CVMD’s social media accounts, Chief Executive Officer Lorenzo Rios listed the five memorials the District was able to construct in the time that Frantzich served on the board. 

Among them was The Garden of Honor atrium that sits in the center of the main building at CVMD, dedicated to veterans who gave their lives to serve our country, and the Pinedale Assembly Center Remembrance Plaza, dedicated to the 4,800 Japanese Americans who were interned there in 1948. 

“There was always a project underway,” Susan Frantzich said, “so I kept signing on for four more years to see how it would turn out.”

Heather Frantzich was 11 when her mother began serving on the board at CVMD, “As a kid I used to decorate the trees during Christmas, and I helped with all the centerpieces for the veterans’ dinners, I really grew up there.”

Heather Frantzich is the daughter of a Vietnam Veteran herself, and she says that’s part of why CVMD has always been close to her heart. 

Moreover, Susan Frantzich believes that her daughter will thrive in her new role on the board of directors.

“She’s been great everywhere that she’s worked,” Susan Frantzich said, “I’m real proud of her, she’s very diligent and she’ll have a lot of new ideas, you can count on her.”

As for what she plans to do for the board, “The shoes I have to fill are huge,” Heather said, “and it’s too soon to tell what’s on my plate right now. I definitely have a lot of ideas but I just need to get in there first, see what’s going on and go from there.”

Meanwhile Susan Frantzich is enjoying her long-awaited and well-deserved retirement at her home in the foothills. “I’ll be 77 next year,” she said, “I want to live out my life the way I started it, on my ranch.”