Page 27 - The Outdoor Showman OCT-DEC 2021

RODEO NEWS
The Gassers retired to the Gold Coast.
All those years of 24-hour pressure left them with health problems. Manuela died five years ago, and had a huge show-business funeral there.
Danny was already at Pallara, Brisbane. Carlos, Frankie and Roxanne took civilian jobs. Sandro developed Somersault Productions, hiring big tents all over Australia
and overseas.
Always stylish and urbane,
Frank bought a red Ford Mustang, and his lifetime friend, Sonja, a member of the 200-year-old Circus Nock Family, came out
to look after and nurse him as
his health deteriorated.
In 2020, Frank suffered three strokes. One alone would have killed a lesser fighter.
Always active, now sustained by drugs, his personality still shone through when his many friends visited.
Just before he was hospitalised for the last time, he said,
“You know, I was all right
until a month ago.
Then it all came on me suddenly. I can’t do anything about it,
but I’ve had a good life.”
They gave him one to six weeks to live. In a coma, he went into hospital on the Thursday night. He never regained consciousness, and died on Sunday, November 21st.
A great life, deeply respected and loved.
Frank and youngest son, Sandro
THE OUTDOOR SHOWMAN 25
Mixed leopard, black leopard (panther), lion and tiger act. 1980s-90s
The legend himself