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Frank Wlosinski, the 74 Missing

Syracuse, NY--The players who gather around the old oak table in the backroom of Steve’s Restaurant on Milton Avenue in Syracuse kept one eye on their cards and the other on the door waiting for the man they call “Shine.”

They were hoping Frank Wlosinski, the 74-year-old Camillus man missing since Saturday, would show up this afternoon to play pitch and poker.

His daughter and granddaughter stopped by the game looking for “Papa.” New York State Trooper Leon Carrodeguas checked in too.

Failing to find Wlosinski playing cards with the guys, police Friday plan to use a dog to sniff around his daughter’s home in Fairmount and his old home in Memphis.

“We’re still hoping he’ll come walking up the street,” said Chris Bilecki, of Syracuse, one of the members of the Thursday afternoon card game.

“I drive through the West End two or three times a day looking for him,” said another card player Larry Corso, who has known Wlosinski since they were little boys.

Most people know Wlosinski as “Shine”, a nickname given to him by a cousin because as a boy because he liked to sing “You Are My Sunshine.”

People who know Shine Wlosinski describe a fit former Syracuse firefighter who was a lieutenant before he retired.

He was a dapper dresser known for wearing dress shoes instead of boots in bad weather. A man who cracked wise and regularly attended Mass at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart.

They also describe a man who had begun to lose his short-term memory and sometimes disappeared for a day or two.

“We didn’t think it was too serious because he’s taking care of himself,” said his grandson Curtiss Monroe, who called Wlosinski Papa. “I think he was pretty competent.”

Papa could still drive, take care of his bills and had an active social life, Monroe said. However, he needed to be reminded about the “short- term stuff” like doctor’s appointments, the names of the great-grandchildren and cousins, he said.

Frank Geremski, of Liverpool, played cards regularly with his childhood friend, and said he encouraged him to see a doctor about his dementia.

Wlosinski disappeared for two days while visiting him in Las Vegas, Geremski said. Just a month ago, his friend disappeared for a day and a half when he returned to his old home in Memphis, he said.

Wlosinski hasn’t been seen since Saturday afternoon. He stopped in at Steve’s around 1 p.m. to watch the Syracuse University Orange men’s basketball game.

State police aren’t quite sure what happened next. A van similar to Wlosinski’s green Chrysler was involved in a minor hit and run accident that afternoon in the parking lot of Marshall’s on West Genesee Street in Fairmount.

About 4:30 p.m., Wlosinski returned to his daughter’s house at 211 Hillbrook Road. He asked his granddaughter if her parents were around, and she said no, the state trooper said.

She went upstairs, and assumed that her grandfather went to his room.

Monroe pulled up at his aunt’s house about 5 p.m. He saw Wlosinski’s van parked outside had a flat tire and a dented rim.

At first, Monroe said he thought Papa had gone somewhere to get a new tire. He looked all over house and yard for him and couldn’t find him.

State police and his old friends suspect the dementia kicked in, and that Wlosinski may have left home because he believed he was in trouble over the accident.

Wlosinski’s checkbook, driver’s license and some cash were slipped into the rectory slot at Sacred Heart, which adds to the mystery. Troopers don’t know who slipped it in the slot, Carrodeguas said.

Sunday, the family went to Sacred Heart hoping that Wlosinski would be there, Monroe said. An announcement about his disappearance was made from the pulpit, he said.

That day his grandson also went to Wlosinski’s old house on Whiting Road in Memphis. His grandfather wasn’t there, and there were no tracks in the snow to show that anyone had been around, Monroe said.

Wlosinski’s family checked every store and gas station along West Genesee Street in Camillus looking for someone who may have seen him, Monroe said. They’ve also checked along all the major routes between Fairmount and Memphis looking, he said.

They’re asking everyone to check their garages, sheds and outbuildings for Wlosinski. Anyone with tips should call the state police in Elbridge at 689-6334.

State police have checked the bus and train station, and have notified Wlosinski’s friends and relatives around the country to be on the look out for him.

“It’s frustrating for the firefighters and the retired firefighters they don’t know what to do,” said Deputy Mayor John Cowin, the city’s former fire chief. “They’d do anything, but they don’t know where to go or where to look.”

Wlosinski was “always a sunshiny guy,” Cowin said. “Hopefully he’s just lost and not out in the elements.”