The Deer That Got Away — A Thanksgiving Hunt in Granville, 1959

On Thanksgiving Day, 1959, Francis Slasinski of 2 Union Avenue in Westfield, Massachusetts, set out for a deer hunting trip in nearby Granville, Massachusetts. Carrying his bow, he followed a quiet country road when he spotted what looked like a deer standing further down the road.

Slasinski drew his bow and prepared to shoot—but just as he was about to release the arrow, the sudden blast of a car horn startled him. The driver pulled alongside and called out that the deer wasn’t wild at all—it was his pet.

To prove it, the man opened his car door, and the deer jumped right in. Before driving away, the unidentified owner offered a good-natured remark to the surprised hunter:

“I wouldn’t have blamed you if you had shot him.”

The strange encounter became one of those memorable local stories that seem almost too unlikely to be true, but it was.

Francis "Fran" Richard Slasinski was well known around Westfield. A sportsman from a young age, he was active in the Boy Scouts, sang in a barbershop quintet, and competed in soap-box derbies. In 1954, about 400 spectators watched Slasinski’s thrilling 41-second win as he took first place in the Apremont Post Veterans of Foreign Wars’ fifth annual Soap Box Derby in Westfield, with his “Flying Tiger” entry, beating last year’s winner, who crossed the finish line two seconds later to claim second place. Slasinski also placed second in the Western Massachusetts Division of the Midget Derby the same year.

Francis (far right) with the rest of the quintet, circa 1967

 

Speed factored in Slasinski’s life. He started school about a month before his fourth birthday. At age 12, he entered Westfield High School.

His formative years included significant challenges. He suffered serious injuries after being struck by a car while riding his bicycle in Westfield on June 3, 1949, and his father passed away suddenly on November 5, 1956.

After facing these hardships, Slasinski reached another important milestone: he married his high school sweetheart on Thanksgiving Day in 1958, just one year before his memorable hunting trip.

The couple wed on Thanksgiving Day 1958

Sadly, Francis Slasinski passed away on April 20, 2020, at age 78, after a battle with the COVID-19 virus.

Fran Slasinski's Obituary Photograph

 
Rest in Peace

Francis Richard Slasinski: October 3, 1941 - April 20, 2020

- A Southwick Time Machine original, part of our collection of quirky local history tales.

 

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This article is based on original primary source research, including but not limited to official records, obituary information, and period newspapers.

 

 

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Edited Out/Author’s Additional Research Notes

Francis’s father was only 47 when he died. Francis’s father’s father appears to have died at age 43.

Henry J. Lucia was sentenced to three months in the House of Corrections in 1915 for breaking into Francis’s grandmother’s chicken coop and stealing a hen, a rooster, and a duck. Henry was plucking feathers when the police arrived at his house. He later admitted to the theft.

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