George Francis Egan, Jr., or Frank (the name he went by) was born Sept. 12, 1945 to George Francis Egan and Ruby Hazeline (Corl) Egan in Eau Claire, Wis. He passed on July 5, 2018, in Busch, Ark., tending his award-winning garlic.
Frank was raised in Kansas City, Mo., and moved to Eureka Springs from Seattle in 1972 to work with Edd Jeffords and Bill O’Neill producing the Ozark Mountain Folkfair on Memorial Day Weekend. After that he was a founder of Mountain Views, a late 1970’s one-edition newspaper that proclaimed it was “A Voice, Not an Echo.”
He was also involved in the Ozarks Access Catalogue and the Ozarks Institute, and in 1976 he helped organize the In Migration Conference at the Crescent Hotel. He also ran for city council against a slate of opposition in 1976, and lost by 57 votes.
Frank was a lifelong devotee of Austrian philosopher and social reformer Rudolf Steiner.
After some years in San Francisco where he made a living as a bronze sculptor, Frank came back to Eureka Springs and got involved in bio-dynamic farming, growing food and flowers for farmers’ markets. He was an avid proponent of the medical marijuana movement and had applied for a dispensary license.
He is survived by his former wife, Anita Taylor of Busch, and their son Kyle Francis Egan, his wife Nicole and their son, Mica Colin Francis V Egan, of Minneapolis. He is also survived by stepdaughters Darienne and Angie Taylor; three brothers who also lived in Eureka Springs, Jim, David and Greg; sister and brother Beth and Mike; and a profusion of friends and associates who appreciated Frank’s intelligence.
He was proud that he was Jesuit educated.
Last Thursday Frank went to his farm, about two miles from his home, to mow and water and see if he was ever going to have any luck growing artichokes. He sat down on a red metal stool to rest, put his head in his hands, and took his last breath. His dog, Nellie, was with him. A neighbor discovered Frank the following morning, still perfectly balanced on the stool. Nellie had disappeared but was located Monday at the Good Shepherd Humane Society. She is back home, and so is Frank.
There will be a celebration of life in September, details forthcoming.