(WYTV)- Frank Sinatra was one of the greatest American singers of the second half of the 20th century. He died in May, 1998 at age 82 of a heart attack.
Ol’ Blue Eyes took to his grave a bottle of Jack Daniels whiskey, a pack of Camels and a Zippo lighter.
Daughter Nancy slipped in the bottle of whiskey. Smeone else the cigarettes and lighter and daughter Tina placed in another of her Dad’s pockets one dollar in dimes, exactly ten dimes in his pocket.
Why? It was something from his past.
On December 8, 1963, as Sinatra was filming Robin and the Seven Hoods with the Rat Pack, kidnappers grabbed his 19 year old son, Frank Sinatra Jr. The kidnappers agreed on a ransom but they would only talk to Frank Sr., and only on a pay phone, and they did.
The kidnappers ultimately released Frank, Jr. unharmed and police caught them. But Frank Sinatra carried the memory of that event with him.
From that point on, Sinatra always wanted to be sure he could use a pay phone whenever he had to, so he made sure he had no fewer than ten dimes in his pocket for the rest of his life, and beyond.
Tina made sure he was buried with his coins.
