In Loving Memory
C. Frank “Bronco” Hollis III, 65, an active member of the RMEF’s Old Dominion Chapter and an avid elk, deer and bear hunter, passed away peacefully in his Varina, Virginia, home December 19, 2009. Frank was involved in Fort Lee Baptist Church, Varina Masonic Lodge 272 and Virginia Claremont Lodge 177. He was a retired member of the Carpenters Union Local 388 and the United Brotherhood of Carpenters. He rode the rodeo circuit in the United States and Canada for more than 20 years, winning 36 championships. He was also a rodeo clown. Frank loved God, his family, life, friends, and telling jokes to everyone, even the occasional stranger—although he seemed to know everyone.
Former Old Dominion Chapter committee member Bobby Hughes remembers Frank as a man who didn’t leave things undone. “When I spoke to him about a month before his passing, he had just donated 19 consecutive Big Game Banquet knives back to the Elk Foundation. He collected them for 19 years for a special purpose: He wanted the proceeds from the sale of his collection to be used to put elk on the ground in Virginia,” Hughes says. “At the same time he was also reroofing, residing and repainting his home so his family wouldn't have any worries after his passing. This is a man I was honored to call a friend.”
Tinker Frazier, RMEF Virginia state chair, says Frank always left her breathless with laughter. “Never before have I met such a man who truly was larger than life. With his priorities always arrow-straight and true, and a booming voice powered by a chest full of pride in his love of God, family and country, you never messed with Frank unless you were sharing a really good joke. Buddy Smith shared with me fond stories of long drives to elk camp with Frank keeping him in stitches for the entire trip,” she says. “He dreamed of elk in Virginia and lived to see his dream come true.”
A conservation memorial has been created in Frank’s memory at RMEF headquarters in Missoula, Montana. If you would like to honor Frank and his legacy by making a memorial gift to support wildlife habitat, please contact the Development department at 1-800 CALL ELK, or