Frank Fleetham served as Mayor of St. Louis Park from January 1974 until he resigned on June 6, 1975.
EARLY DAYS
Frank was born in March 1943 and attended Lenox Elementary School for 1st grade, then Holy Family Catholic Elementary School. His 1961 Senior yearbook at Benilde Catholic High School unfortunately spelled his name wrong, but provides this information:
Nickname: “Frank” (he was Christened Frank George Fleetham, not Francis)
Quote: “Tonight we are alone under the moonlight . . . tomorrow we will be at the opposite end of the world. Let’s hope anyway.”
Activities:
- Basketball Manager: Freshman through Senior years
- Art and Poster Club: Junior Year
- Cheerleader: Sophomore and Senior Years
- Drama: Junior and Senior Years
- Pep Club: Junior and Senior Years
- Young Democratic League: Senior Year
Likes: State Tournaments
Dislikes: Parties at Annandale
POLITICS
Although Frank’s family business was a furniture store in Uptown, Minneapolis, Frank was interested in politics, as evidenced by his participation in the Young DFL Club in high school. He served as a City Councilman starting in January 1970.
Fleetham beat bitter rival Frank Pucci by 22 votes on November 6, 1973 and was sworn in as Mayor in January 1974.
FINANCIAL WOES
In 1968 he worked for Lakes Employment Agency until it went out of business six months later.
January 1969 over-the-counter stock trader at the brokerage firm of Dain, Kalman, & Quail.
In January 1970 he was pumping gas at a local full-service filling station.
Also in January 1970 he began serving as a City Councilman, which paid a small salary.
But the Fleethams’ fourth child was born with complications and there were medical bills to pay. Frank was working 60 to 90 hours a week at three jobs to pay the bills and keep up with the mounting 1970s inflation.
The final blow came in October 1974 when he was laid off from his brokerage firm, at the height of the Recession. He was quoted as saying, “If I have to pump gas again, I’ll be back pumping gas. I don’t consider it demeaning.” (Minneapolis Tribune, November 10, 1974)
Citing this inability to support his family on the Mayor’s salary, (“St. Louis Park mayor quits ‘hobby’ for a job,” ran the Minneapolis Star‘s headline), Fleethan resigned as mayor on May 5, 1975, to become the clerk-administrative assistant of Hutchinson, Minn. He described it as being similar to a city manager’s position. He assumed his new job immediately and commuted the 50 miles until the summer when he moved his family. He had been attending Minnesota Metropolitan State College to obtain a BA in public administration.
Fleetham said:
I wanted to get involved in some civic and municipal government in a good town and Hutchinson, though only 9,000 people, is an exciting town that is doing a lot of innovative things. Being just an elected official gets to be old hat after a while and so I decided that since I liked city government that rather than doing it for a hobby that I should do it for a living. (Minneapolis Star, May 6, 1975)
UPDATE
Frank eventually moved West and became a World traveler. By his 80th birthday, he had visited 114 countries, mostly by bicycle!
