Nothing escaped Frank Campbell’s curious, grasping mind, except the mundane.
The retired physician was discussing quantum physics and learning Cambodian phrases until shortly before his death May 9. He was 93.
When Frank Campbell and his wife, Dr. Winona Campbell, who died in 2002, moved from their Capitol Hill house several years ago, the mover said, “I’ve never moved a house with five libraries and no bedrooms.”
Frank Campbell might have three books going at a time, said his daughter, Jil Campbell of Granby. “He might be reading about dirt, about DNA and about Greece at the same time.”
Campbell started several “salon-type” meetings with friends over lunch. Discussions could be on genetic engineering, archaeology, education, philosophy, stem-cell research – just about anything but the weather or aches and pains.
Campbell watched only documentaries or serious interviews on television, “never, ever, ever, ever ‘Tool Time,”‘ said his longtime personal assistant, Sam Dunbar.
She described him as “brilliant, friendly, understanding and someone who talked to everyone. The only thing that annoyed him was people who didn’t use their brains,” Dunbar said.
Frank Campbell was curious about his patients and would often ask them “how long they wanted to live and what they would do in the interim,” said Dr. Nancy Nelson, a retired pediatrician and longtime family friend. “He was a highly respected physician.”
When he was in his 80s, Campbell decided he should know what second-graders were up to, Nelson said. So he began going weekly to second grade at McElwain Elementary School in Adams County, sitting with the students, listening to them and finding out “what students were being taught, what they were thinking and how the school system was working,” his daughter said. He followed the students through three grades.
“He kept us all thinking,” teacher Nancy Hawkins said. “And the kids just accepted him as part of the class.”
“He was a good teacher,” said his son, Larry Campbell of Odessa, Texas. “When he found out we were interested in something, books would appear on the subject. He taught us how to think.”
Frank and Winona Campbell climbed mountains around the world and shared interests in almost everything.
But she loved flowers and he loved weeds. She hated them. Finally, she partitioned off part of her garden for his weeds.
When Amy and Katy Symons were little girls down the street from the Campbells, he would have them stand beside a weed in the alley to find out “if you or the weed grew more in the last year,” recalled their mother, Cle Symons.
Frank Campbell was born Dec. 21, 1911, in McDonald, Pa., and went to high school there. He earned his undergraduate degree at Yale University and his medical degree at Columbia University in New York City.
He “took a shine” to a young woman, Winona Gould, in his anatomy class and found out when her birthday was, their daughter said.
On that day he put a cupcake, complete with candle, in her dissecting tray.
“Mom didn’t eat the cupcake, but they started dating after that,” Jil Campbell said.
They married Sept. 3, 1938. When Frank Campbell was in the Air Force, he was stationed at Buckley Air Base in Denver “and fell in love with the state,” his daughter said. They moved here with their young daughter, Susan Campbell, and he opened a medical practice. Winona Campbell began working in pediatrics at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center.
In addition to his son and daughter, Campbell is survived by his other son, James Campbell of Lakewood; five grandchildren; and one great- grandchild. He was preceded in death by daughter Susan Campbell.
Staff writer Virginia Culver can be reached at 303-820-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com.