Daniel Victor Frandson

Daniel Victor Frandson, son of Patricia Erin Gliksman and Dan Lloyd Frandson, passed away on May 31, 2024. He drowned in a bridge jumping accident on the Payette River near Horseshoe Bend, Idaho. Daniel was born in McCall, Idaho, on May 31, 2000, and lived most of his life in Boise before moving with his family to Eagle in 2014. 

He attended St. Mark’s Catholic School, the gifted program at Andrus Elementary and Lowell Scott Middle Schools. He then entered homeschooling under the instruction of his mother, Patricia. He tested into Treasure Valley Math and Science Center, attended Mother of Divine Grace, and Eagle High School depending on the demands of his gifted education. While studying at Eagle High School he received a gold medal on the National Latin Exam— he scored a 39 of 40.

Daniel entered the engineering program at Franciscan University of Steubenville, in Ohio, where he studied for year and a half before returning home and entering the professional world, not as an engineer, but as a “stripper.”

At the age of nineteen, Daniel was hired at Asana Climbing Gym in Garden City, Idaho, where he took a hobby and turned it into his way of life. His first position was a “stripper,” or someone who takes the climbing holds off the wall to prepare them to be set with on new climbing routes. He quickly grew in physical strength and mental skill and progressed to routesetting. Daniel not only pushed himself as a boulderer in both indoor and outdoor settings, climbing V10 — and commonly setting routes that were of even higher difficulty — he pushed himself as an entrepreneur. Daniel started his own business producing custom climbing holds and volumes, custom chalk bags, and had been asked several times to help build home-walls for fellow boulderers. 

He had a passion for perfection and a talent for identifying the “real problem” versus the “perceived problem,” which allowed him to become an innovator in his field. For instance, Daniel created his own formula for the texture he sprayed on his volumes, he had several sketches for improving the design of climbing shoes and had been collaborating with a co-worker to engineer and produce a better method for assembling volumes. Daniel had a hand in nearly every aspect of the gym, yet he always strived to learn more and better himself as an employee, an athlete, a routesetter, and recently even an aerialist. 

Daniel’s attention to detail at work only scratches the surface of his attention to detail in other aspects of his life. For three years, Daniel painstakingly recreated the Red Book of Westmarch from the Lord of the Rings, using primarily a quill and ink for both writing and illustrating. He used the same skill to create prop-replicas of many other Lord of the Rings maps and documents. He was obsessed with movies and built costumes ranging from characters like the Green Arrow, to Aguilar from Assassin’s Creed, to Captain Jack Sparrow, to Charlie Hunnam’s King Arthur, and when he wore them, he was them.

This passion for film started when Daniel was young. He loved to watch them, act them out in the living room, quote them, and study them — researching everything from Charlie Chaplin to behind-the-scenes breakdowns of special effects. In fact, when he was in middle school, he presented a project on Charlie Chaplin and the Silent Comedy Revolution for National History Day. He placed first at his school, second at state level and went to Maryland for the national competition.                      

However, being on the outside was not enough for Daniel. In 2009, he was cast in the independent film, “Magic Valley,” and continued to act in film, television, and online productions. He was also an executive producer on several different productions and a sponsor for the Sun Valley Film Festival.

Daniel was an inventor, as well as an artist in every sense of the word. He was a woodworker, a custom quiver maker, a knitter, sewist, embroiders, a spider silk rosary maker, a calligrapher, and a wax sealer of cards and letters. He was a highly skilled archer, a card and knife thrower, a fight choreographer, a reluctant fisherman, a hot air balloon crew member, a mannequin poser, a juggler, a ballroom dancer, a pool player, an amazing chess player (he beat the Nook computer), a Harry Potter and general trivia master, a photographer, and a tremendous napper. Daniel was an excellent conversationalist with a rapier wit, a talent for puns, and a passion for correcting grammar and using the British spelling of words. He spoke in sentences before six months old, was a self-taught reader— he sounded out “gastroenterology” at three and a half years old— and was a poet and rap lyricist. Daniel was a stylish dresser, a blue jeep driving adventurer and Boise Juice Company fanatic, a music connaisseur, a Proof Eyewear representative, an animal lover, an excellent boulderer, and an even better friend. But above all, he is a beloved son, damn good brother, and a young man with the courage of a thousand people his age. He will be greatly missed. 

Daniel Frandson is survived by his parents, Dan and Patricia Frandson (Eagle), as well as his older sister, Kristina Frandson (Idaho Falls). He is preceded in death by two siblings. 

Funeral Services will be held on Tuesday, June 18, 2024, at St. Mark’s Catholic Church, in Boise, Idaho, beginning with a Rosary at 10:00 A.M., funeral mass at 11:00 A.M., and proceeding to a graveside service and burial at Dry Creek Cemetery in Ada County at 2:00 P.M. All are welcome to attend.

In lieu of flowers, the Frandson family is collecting donations to purchase swift water rescue gear and equipment for the Horseshoe Bend Fire Department. Donations can be sent to Dan or Patricia Frandson at 12524 W. Billabong Ct, Boise, Idaho 83709. This equipment will be invaluable to expanding the Horseshoe Bend Fire Department’s ability to respond to any future incidents.

Special thanks to the Horseshoe Bend Fire Department and the Horseshoe Bend Ambulance service, as well as all those who searched for Daniel over the 11-day period his body was missing. Special thanks also to the Fenske Family, Wendy Albright, the Fehringer Family, to Asana Climbing Gym, and everyone who has provided support and prayers to us during this difficult time.