Got spare, tacky Christmas decorations? Fran Gray needs your help!
By Christopher Miller
PHILIPSBURG, PA – Fran Gray knows how to fight.
or at home making my house absolutely atrocious.”
“I have been winning at life since 1970,” Fran’s Facebook post said Saturday morning when I stumbled across it. “I’ve successfully navigated diabetes, survived two heart attacks, five heart catheterizations, one quintuple bypass surgery, and a stroke…the point is I know how to fight.”
Fran is stepping back into the ring to face yet another fight, a fight he is preparing for the only way he knows how to – with a spark of inspiration and good spirits.
Fran is A Renovo native, who graduated with Bucktail’s class of 1988.
“I just received an unfavorable cancer diagnosis that the doctors are saying surviving the first step, surgery, could be a coin toss, so six months of chemotherapy and radiation first it is, but we don’t even know what stage the cancer is in yet,” Fran shared. “I will rage: rage against the dying of the light.”
So to fight the dying of the light, Fran is looking for help to create the brightest light possible for himself, his family, his neighbors, and his township.
“I want to light my house up so that you can see it from space,” Fran said. “I need a project, and this will be the perfect one to occupy my time when I have good days between chemotherapy treatments.”
Fran’s main goal in this venture is to make his house the wildest that it can be completely decked out with decorations so bad that, “I want the township to come knocking on my door to address my lights,” Fran said.
as an ugly Christmas sweater just
on a much grander scale”
“I don’t want anybody to spend any money on buying decorations or lights, but if you have any old lights of any kind, or any spare Christmas decorations, the tackier the better, I can use them all,” Fran said.” I know it’s really not going to be easy but I have my wife and kids to help me.”
Fran’s goal is to have all of the decorations and lights up by December 15, “so I can bask in my life and watch my electric bill soar,” Fran laughed.
“I joked on my Facebook page and said I wanted to see pink flamingos in Santa hats…well, I got a package the other day from Amazon with a 6 or 7′ inflatable flamingo wearing a Santa hat, so the tackier the better,” Fran explained.
If you are interested in donating the tackiest decorations you wouldn’t dare put up, or have spare Christmas lights collecting dust, seek out Fran Gray and he will be willing to put them to good use in Rush Township.
“I’ll set up a collection point in Renovo if this gets too big,” Said Fran.
For those looking to hand-deliver decorations, Fran Gray can be found at 162 Richard Street, Philipsburg, PA 16866 or through Facebook Messenger at:
https://www.facebook.com/fran.
Due to doctor recommendations and the upcoming procedures, physical contact with Fran is highly limited to direct family and close friends.
