He married Dorothy Kosko of Greensburg, Pennsylvania, and had two daughters, Carol and Barbara. Frank stayed on with the Hot Shots for ten years.

Let's let Jack Holden of WLS Standby Magazine (from 1936) take over here

Fortune is supposed to smile on babies born on New Year's Day and so it is probable that the baby born on the Kettering household in Monmouth, Illinois, on the first day of 1909, was especially favored.

The only son was named Frank Delaney Kettering. Almost before he was old enough to talk, his grandfather taught him to play the fife; and when he was only five years old, he was entertaining ladies aid societies in Monmouth with his fife.

All the ladies applauded and nodded their heads, saying, "It's no wonder the little fellow is musically inclined. His mother teaches violin and piano at the Conservatory, you know."

By the time he was 11 years old, Frank had given up such "sissy" pastime as playing for ladies aids and was a regular member of the municipal band. From that time on until he left Monmouth, he wa in great demand all over the country.

"I was the only piccolo player for miles around," Frank modestly says, "so all the town bands used to call on me when they were giving concerts." Probably the biggest thrill for Frank was the time John Philip Sousa's band came to Monmouth. Sousa was, of course, the idol of all aspiring band musicians, and Frank was no exception. Imagine how he felt then, when he, still a high school lad, was allowed to play in Sousa's band while it was in Monmouth.

During his first three years in Monmouth College, Frank majored in engineering and English, and spent all his spare time practicing with his own orchestra. In the summer of 1927, he was stranded in Iowa when an engagement fell through and no money was forthcoming.

Too proud to call his family for help, Frank put an ad in a theatrical weekly. It was answered by Ezra Buzzington who was reorganizing his Rustic Revelers. Frank joined them for thee seasons, he toured the vaudeville circuits with them. The other Hoosier Hot Shots, Ken and Hezzie Trietsch and "Gabe" Ward were also with Buzzington at that time.

While they were playing in Greensberg, Pennsylvania, Frank met Dorothy Kosko. They went out on a date and when Frank got back to his hotel, he discovered that his clothes, all his money and every bit of his belongings were missing. It took three weeks to catch the culprit with the aid of police, and in those three weeks Frank took time to do some courting. When Frank started out on the road again, he took Dorothy with him as his bride.

After a year's run in New York with Buzzington's Revelers, Frank came back to Quincy, Illinois, where he was an accountant for a year. Then both he and Dorothy enrolled again in Monmouth College. During his senior year Frank was leader of the Glee Club and took part in track meets.

Graduating from Monmouth, Frank returned to vaudeville as a comedian and then got a job with a manufacturing firm in the East.

In the meantime, the Hoosier Hot Shots had organized their own band and had entered radio in Chicago. They sent for Frank and he joined them in August, 1934. Frank does many of the Hot Shots' arrangements and writes their music. While he nearly always plays the bull fiddle with them, he can also play the banjo, guitar, flute, piccolo, piano and organ.

Frank and Dorothy have a little daughter, Carol Suzanne, born March 13, 1935 (curators update, since this was published, a second daughter, Barbara, was born in 1939); and Frank's most engrossing hobby is taking pictures and movies of the baby.

Frank is tall and lanky, spreading only 142 pounds over his six-foot frame, has brown eyes and nearly black hair. His favorite color is blue.

As Franks says, "I started with the fife at five, took up the bull fiddle when I was 27, and there's no telling where I'll be when I'm 49.