Frank Neal Drane

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Frank Neal Drane, right out of Navarro County. Now, some men spend their whole lives accumulating, and some men spend their whole lives giving, and every once in a while, you get a man who figured out how to do both at the same time. Frank Neal Drane was that kind of man.

Born right there in Navarro County in 1862, Drane didn't have to go looking for opportunity. He started close to home, running a hardware store alongside his father. That's a good honest beginning for anybody.

But Drane was just getting warmed up. He moved on to become president of City National Bank, and then in 1901, he formed the Corsicana Power and Light company. The man was lighting up the county, and I mean that in more ways than one.

Along the way he married Florence A. Bingham in 1885, raised two children, served as a city alderman, and led the way in the Third Avenue Presbyterian church. A full life by any measure.

But here's the part that really sticks. Drane looked around at everything he'd built and decided the point wasn't to sit on it. The marker says it plain: he wished to share his personal prosperity with fellow citizens.

So in 1938, he organized the Navarro Community Foundation, bringing in E. W. Robinson, born in 1891, as the first director.

Frank Neal Drane passed that same year, 1938. But the foundation he built didn't go anywhere. It kept right on working, touching wide-ranging endeavors across the county, including Navarro College, which was founded in 1946.

A man lights a lamp, and long after he's gone, people are still reading by it.

What the marker says

(1862-1938) A Navarro County native, Frank Neal Drane married Florence A. Bingham in 1885 and had two children. He ran a hardware store with his father before becoming president of City National Bank. In 1901 Drane formed the Corsicana Power and Light company. A city alderman and a leader in the Third Avenue Presbyterian church, he wished to share his personal prosperity with fellow citizens. In 1938 he organized the Navarro Community Foundation with E. W. Robinson (1891-1967) as the first director. The fund has benefited wide-ranging endeavors, including Navarro College, founded in 1946.