Frank Calvert: Saguaro Corners restaurant was where he loved to be

The fastidious restaurateur spent almost every day, and most nights, for the last 44 years at Saguaro Corners, near the entrance to Saguaro National Park East on Old Spanish Trail. "This was where he loved to be," said Linda Johnston, Saguaro Corner's bookkeeper. "I find it very cute that he would die on a Monday so as not to interfere with the restaurant."

It was the only day of the week Calvert took for himself, using the time to run errands and visit friends.

Even the customers at Calvert's restaurant knew of his attention to detail.

Jeff Eppley has dined at Saguaro Corners for 10 years.

"Even being 90 years old, he was very meticulous with what he did. He would make sure the employees were doing their job and make sure the tables were straight, the way he liked them," Eppley said. "If the napkins weren't a certain way, he'd straighten them out. He was funny that way — neat and tidy. It was not unusual for him to still be there working at 10 o'clock at night."

Calvert was forced to curtail his activity at the restaurant a month ago, when he broke his hip. Making his way through the dining room to visit with customers was difficult using a walker.

But he still came in every day to oversee operations.

It was at Saguaro Corners that Calvert spent his last day. He went home Sunday evening and died overnight of heart failure, said one of his three children, Bob Calvert.

"This was his life. He loved this place and operating it, and he loved being here," Bob Calvert said.

Customers often found the elder Calvert sitting in a corner booth in the bar enjoying an omelet or a plate of sauteed vegetables and a piece of salmon prepared for him by Bob, the restaurant's only cook for the last decade.

That small bar area is where the family business started. Originally, it was a red-and-white, eight-stool hamburger stand with a couple of gas pumps out front.

Frank Calvert's father, Bert, acquired the desert acreage in 1956 as payment for a debt. Frank was living in California and working in construction when his father died in 1963.

Frank and his wife, Florence, moved to Tucson to take over the business. The couple had no experience running a restaurant but learned on the job.

"He started doing the cooking, and my mother waited tables, and my brother, Dale, started waiting tables when he was a little older. All of us have worked here at one time or another," the Calverts' daughter, Sherry Baran, said.

"They even pumped gas in the early years," Baran said. Her mother would run out between waiting tables, pump gas and run back inside to take another order.

Eventually, they got rid of the gas pumps, and in 1968, Baran said, they added a small dining room onto the burger stand so they could seat 30 or so customers. They also began upgrading their menu. Eventually, Saguaro Corners expanded to about 110 seats with picture windows that provided scenic views of the wildlife habitat.

Frank Calvert inherited his customer-service skills from his mother, who oversaw dining rooms on passenger ships and in large hotels around the turn of the century.

"He wanted a relaxed atmosphere," Baran said. "He thought people should come out and get a good meal and be able to relax and enjoy it and get what they wanted. It was very important to him that the customer was satisfied.

"We're talking about somebody who grew up in an era when that was the kind of graciousness that was expected," she said.

Sometimes, Calvert could be a little too hospitable, though, she said.

"If people sat with their backs to the window, he'd go over and tell them they couldn't see the view that way, and he'd tell them to scooch around the table," Baran said.

"I told him, 'Dad, maybe they don't want to look out the window,' and he said, 'If they come here, they want to see the view.' He had his opinion, and you couldn't change him.

"He was always kind of known as a gruff-type guy, but there was nobody with a softer heart," his daughter said. "He was more than willing to help anybody."

Cathy Paczosa has worked as a waitress at Saguaro Corners for four years, during which she saw Calvert's milder side.

"He was just the sweetest curmudgeon I ever met," she said.

Johnston, the bookkeeper, agreed. "He was the kindest, most honest man that I think I've ever known," she said.

Florence, Frank's wife of 55 years, died 11 years ago, and the Calvert children haven't yet decided whether to keep the restaurant in the family.

Saguaro Corners is closed this week because of Frank's death; a memorial service is scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday at Bring Funeral Home's East Side Chapel, 6910 E. Broadway.

After that, the restaurant will remain closed for an additional two weeks for a pre-planned vacation, during which the family will decide the restaurant's fate.

"He was always kind of known as a gruff-type guy, but there was nobody with a softer heart. He was more than willing to help anybody."

Sherry Baran, daughter