Frank Fontis

Frank Fontis made Key West his life’s work — a landscaper, museum curator and neighbor who cared for the island’s gardens and local history. For nearly a decade he served as gardener and caretaker to the playwright Tennessee Williams when Williams was away, and he is remembered in local histories as a hands-on steward of some of Key West’s most recognizable properties. Beyond his work with Williams, Fontis curated a small local collection referred to in period accounts as a railroad/coffee-mill museum and was active in preserving artifacts of island life. A photograph in the Florida Keys History Center collection shows him tending a palm tree on Front Street in 1967, a quiet image that reflects his lifelong connection to the streets and green spaces of Key West.

People who knew the island in the 1960s and 1970s describe Fontis as someone who invested effort in preserving small pieces of local memory — assembling exhibits and caring for gardens that anchored places others passed by each day. That practical devotion to place and craft is how many who recall him remember him first: a man who worked with his hands to keep the island’s character intact.

On January 5, 1979, Frank Fontis was found dead in Key West. The date of his passing is part of the public record and is reflected in contemporary reporting from the time. While the circumstances of his death are noted in historical accounts, the fuller memory of Frank Fontis is of the work he did for the community — the gardens he tended, the small museum collections he curated, and the steadiness of a local craftsman who helped preserve Key West’s sense of itself. His life touched the island’s cultural fabric, and his contributions to its preservation remain part of Key West’s historical record.

Because public documentation about his early life and family is limited in the sources examined, this remembrance focuses on the verifiable ways he shaped his community. Those who wish to add memories, photographs, or family remembrances to this page should consult local archives or the Florida Keys History Center so that his full story may be kept with dignity for neighbors and future generations.