Fransioli took loving care of customers for 60 years:
Commercial Appeal, The (Memphis, TN) - September 27, 1995
When Steve Fransioli Jr. pumped his first tank of gasoline at a service station at the age of 17, he was making plans to work awhile and then go to college to study mechanical engineering.
He never made it to college, but he learned the mechanics of running an old-fashioned full-service gasoline station. For years he operated Steve's 66 Service Center on the corner of Highland and Walker, catering to college students, business executives and homemakers.
His business slogan was simple: ''We baby your buggy from bumper to bumper.''
For 60 years, Mr. Fransioli also made it a point to baby his customers. On Monday, he died of congestive heart failure at his home. He was 81.
When he retired in 1990, Mr. Fransioli gave his business to his longtime employee Lewis Mason. The station closed for good in 1993 because of declining business and health problems. It was eventually torn down to make room for another business.
In a 1990 interview with The Commercial Appeal, Mr. Fransioli explained why he stayed with a business that he never wanted to leave: ''I wasn't quite 17 when I got that job with Esso in 1930. I didn't know a monkey wrench from a screwdriver. But I've been doing it ever since. I just loved it. Something got hold of me.''
Since his father died, his son, Bill, said he's been told several stories about his father from friends and former customers.
''When we go to his funeral, he'll have janitors to bank presidents there,'' Bill Fransioli said. ''He treated all people as equals. No matter what. He never had anything but a kind word for everybody. I'm amazed by all the people he knew.''
Mr. Fransioli's great-grandfather built the downtown Fransioli Hotel in the late 1800s.
In addition to running several gas stations throughout the city in his 60-year career, Mr. Fransioli was a World War II veteran, a member of White Station Lions Club and the Summit Club, and a member of the second graduating class of Christian Brothers High School. He was active with the prayer group of St. Luke's Methodist Church.
Services will be at 2 p.m. today at Christ United Methodist Church, where he was a member of the Administrative Board, head usher and active in the Men's Prayer Group. Burial is in Bethel Cemetery in Millington.
Memphis Funeral Home Poplar Chapel has charge.
In addition to his son, Bill, Mr. Fransioli, the husband of Mary Jane Fransioli for 58 years, also leaves a daughter, Jane Browndyke of Germantown; another son, Steve Fransioli III of Dallas; two sisters, Aurelia Wells and Gloria Breen, both of Chattanooga, and six grandchildren.
The family requests that any memorials be sent to Christ United Methodist Church ''Perceptions'' program, the Kidney Foundation or to the charity of the donor's choice.
Commercial Appeal, The (Memphis, TN) - September 27, 1995
When Steve Fransioli Jr. pumped his first tank of gasoline at a service station at the age of 17, he was making plans to work awhile and then go to college to study mechanical engineering.
He never made it to college, but he learned the mechanics of running an old-fashioned full-service gasoline station. For years he operated Steve's 66 Service Center on the corner of Highland and Walker, catering to college students, business executives and homemakers.
His business slogan was simple: ''We baby your buggy from bumper to bumper.''
For 60 years, Mr. Fransioli also made it a point to baby his customers. On Monday, he died of congestive heart failure at his home. He was 81.
When he retired in 1990, Mr. Fransioli gave his business to his longtime employee Lewis Mason. The station closed for good in 1993 because of declining business and health problems. It was eventually torn down to make room for another business.
In a 1990 interview with The Commercial Appeal, Mr. Fransioli explained why he stayed with a business that he never wanted to leave: ''I wasn't quite 17 when I got that job with Esso in 1930. I didn't know a monkey wrench from a screwdriver. But I've been doing it ever since. I just loved it. Something got hold of me.''
Since his father died, his son, Bill, said he's been told several stories about his father from friends and former customers.
''When we go to his funeral, he'll have janitors to bank presidents there,'' Bill Fransioli said. ''He treated all people as equals. No matter what. He never had anything but a kind word for everybody. I'm amazed by all the people he knew.''
Mr. Fransioli's great-grandfather built the downtown Fransioli Hotel in the late 1800s.
In addition to running several gas stations throughout the city in his 60-year career, Mr. Fransioli was a World War II veteran, a member of White Station Lions Club and the Summit Club, and a member of the second graduating class of Christian Brothers High School. He was active with the prayer group of St. Luke's Methodist Church.
Services will be at 2 p.m. today at Christ United Methodist Church, where he was a member of the Administrative Board, head usher and active in the Men's Prayer Group. Burial is in Bethel Cemetery in Millington.
Memphis Funeral Home Poplar Chapel has charge.
In addition to his son, Bill, Mr. Fransioli, the husband of Mary Jane Fransioli for 58 years, also leaves a daughter, Jane Browndyke of Germantown; another son, Steve Fransioli III of Dallas; two sisters, Aurelia Wells and Gloria Breen, both of Chattanooga, and six grandchildren.
The family requests that any memorials be sent to Christ United Methodist Church ''Perceptions'' program, the Kidney Foundation or to the charity of the donor's choice.
Fransioli took loving care of customers for 60 years:
Commercial Appeal, The (Memphis, TN) - September 27, 1995
When Steve Fransioli Jr. pumped his first tank of gasoline at a service station at the age of 17, he was making plans to work awhile and then go to college to study mechanical engineering.
He never made it to college, but he learned the mechanics of running an old-fashioned full-service gasoline station. For years he operated Steve's 66 Service Center on the corner of Highland and Walker, catering to college students, business executives and homemakers.
His business slogan was simple: ''We baby your buggy from bumper to bumper.''
For 60 years, Mr. Fransioli also made it a point to baby his customers. On Monday, he died of congestive heart failure at his home. He was 81.
When he retired in 1990, Mr. Fransioli gave his business to his longtime employee Lewis Mason. The station closed for good in 1993 because of declining business and health problems. It was eventually torn down to make room for another business.
In a 1990 interview with The Commercial Appeal, Mr. Fransioli explained why he stayed with a business that he never wanted to leave: ''I wasn't quite 17 when I got that job with Esso in 1930. I didn't know a monkey wrench from a screwdriver. But I've been doing it ever since. I just loved it. Something got hold of me.''
Since his father died, his son, Bill, said he's been told several stories about his father from friends and former customers.
''When we go to his funeral, he'll have janitors to bank presidents there,'' Bill Fransioli said. ''He treated all people as equals. No matter what. He never had anything but a kind word for everybody. I'm amazed by all the people he knew.''
Mr. Fransioli's great-grandfather built the downtown Fransioli Hotel in the late 1800s.
In addition to running several gas stations throughout the city in his 60-year career, Mr. Fransioli was a World War II veteran, a member of White Station Lions Club and the Summit Club, and a member of the second graduating class of Christian Brothers High School. He was active with the prayer group of St. Luke's Methodist Church.
Services will be at 2 p.m. today at Christ United Methodist Church, where he was a member of the Administrative Board, head usher and active in the Men's Prayer Group. Burial is in Bethel Cemetery in Millington.
Memphis Funeral Home Poplar Chapel has charge.
In addition to his son, Bill, Mr. Fransioli, the husband of Mary Jane Fransioli for 58 years, also leaves a daughter, Jane Browndyke of Germantown; another son, Steve Fransioli III of Dallas; two sisters, Aurelia Wells and Gloria Breen, both of Chattanooga, and six grandchildren.
The family requests that any memorials be sent to Christ United Methodist Church ''Perceptions'' program, the Kidney Foundation or to the charity of the donor's choice.
Commercial Appeal, The (Memphis, TN) - September 27, 1995
When Steve Fransioli Jr. pumped his first tank of gasoline at a service station at the age of 17, he was making plans to work awhile and then go to college to study mechanical engineering.
He never made it to college, but he learned the mechanics of running an old-fashioned full-service gasoline station. For years he operated Steve's 66 Service Center on the corner of Highland and Walker, catering to college students, business executives and homemakers.
His business slogan was simple: ''We baby your buggy from bumper to bumper.''
For 60 years, Mr. Fransioli also made it a point to baby his customers. On Monday, he died of congestive heart failure at his home. He was 81.
When he retired in 1990, Mr. Fransioli gave his business to his longtime employee Lewis Mason. The station closed for good in 1993 because of declining business and health problems. It was eventually torn down to make room for another business.
In a 1990 interview with The Commercial Appeal, Mr. Fransioli explained why he stayed with a business that he never wanted to leave: ''I wasn't quite 17 when I got that job with Esso in 1930. I didn't know a monkey wrench from a screwdriver. But I've been doing it ever since. I just loved it. Something got hold of me.''
Since his father died, his son, Bill, said he's been told several stories about his father from friends and former customers.
''When we go to his funeral, he'll have janitors to bank presidents there,'' Bill Fransioli said. ''He treated all people as equals. No matter what. He never had anything but a kind word for everybody. I'm amazed by all the people he knew.''
Mr. Fransioli's great-grandfather built the downtown Fransioli Hotel in the late 1800s.
In addition to running several gas stations throughout the city in his 60-year career, Mr. Fransioli was a World War II veteran, a member of White Station Lions Club and the Summit Club, and a member of the second graduating class of Christian Brothers High School. He was active with the prayer group of St. Luke's Methodist Church.
Services will be at 2 p.m. today at Christ United Methodist Church, where he was a member of the Administrative Board, head usher and active in the Men's Prayer Group. Burial is in Bethel Cemetery in Millington.
Memphis Funeral Home Poplar Chapel has charge.
In addition to his son, Bill, Mr. Fransioli, the husband of Mary Jane Fransioli for 58 years, also leaves a daughter, Jane Browndyke of Germantown; another son, Steve Fransioli III of Dallas; two sisters, Aurelia Wells and Gloria Breen, both of Chattanooga, and six grandchildren.
The family requests that any memorials be sent to Christ United Methodist Church ''Perceptions'' program, the Kidney Foundation or to the charity of the donor's choice.
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