Memories of Manoli by David
Posted by RISE International | Filed under Children of God, Memories, The Family International
By David in remembrance of Emmanuel David Frouman (March 25, 1973 – February 8, 1994)
I knew Manoli very well in Argentina. I lived there from 88 to 93 and knew him as Lucas and then Paul. Let me start by expressing my condolences to you. I appreciated being able to read your tribute to him on what would have been his 32nd birthday. I had heard back in ‘96 (while I was still in TF) from his Uncle Jonas that he had commited suicide and I remember feeling so shocked and grief-stricken at that time.
I have only fond memories of him. He was a quiet guy and generally worked in the garden or on handyman projects and occasionally in the kitchen. At the Ark he used to bake up some fantastic bread (I think he used to put more milk and sugar than he was supposed to but we all appreciated it). I remember on one occasion at the Teen Home he put green food coloring in the eggs and we all got a tremendous kick out of it.
He would sometimes surprise me with the funny jokes and statements that he would come up with out of the blue and recount with a perfect straight face. I vividly remember doing a lot of raking and yardwork with him and I can picture him laughing and laughing as we would joke about something. We would talk about girls (who was hot), his experiences in Corrientes and whatever came to mind. I don’t recall him ever going “steady” with any of the girls in particular but there were a couple of girls that he got kind of close to.
I can’t remember him ever really getting in trouble for anything and he was for the most part quiet, hard-working and happy enough but I remember when he came back from that trip that he made to visit his mom in the U.S. around 1988 or 1989 there was some concern about some of the pictures that he brought back as he looked so obviously happy in all the photos and normally around the house he was more solemn. I guess they caused some concern for the shepherds but I can’t remember him ever being publicly corrected. He was a quiet guy who got along with everyone.
We would have a teen dance night every month or so and I remember us teasing each other about who was the worse at dancing (it was probably a tie as we were both terrible). I can’t think of any other story right now but I guess I would close by saying that Lucas was a great friend of mine and I grieve for him. In Argentina, we all basically worked our asses off and sometimes the food was rough, etc. but I hope it brings you comfort to know that us teen/EA boys were a tight group and we supported each other and it was my perception that he was happy and loved by all his peers.
I just remember one time around 1992, we were each shuffling (running wasn’t allowed on these pathways) down 2 perpendicular pathways at The Ark that met at a corner and glanced at each from a distance and spontaneously started racing towards the corner (he from one path and I from the other).
By the time we met we were both running pretty fast. We tried to dodge each other but there was a collision and we both flew headlong into a tree. I ended up with a ringing headache and he broke his nose. They took him to the local hospital and he had a white bandage for a couple of weeks with a stabilizer. We were joking about it the next day but from then on anytime someone ran on the pathways it was like “Hey! Remember what happen to Lucas and David…”.