Born in Pincher Creek, District of Alberta, North-West Territories, the son of Richard Lynch-Staunton and Isabelle Mary Wilson, he attended Western Canadian College in Calgary from 1919 to 1922. From 1923 to 1927, he studied engineering at the University of Alberta. In spring 1927, Lynch-Staunton secured employment surveying in the Lethbridge area. One survey and inspection project that he worked on was the Canadian Pacific Railway viaduct. After two months of surveying, he was employed as a geological surveyor for Imperial Oil for two years before entering into a ranching partnership with his father in 1929. Lynch-Staunton was a founding member and director of Community Auction Sales, the first sales organization in Canada to sell cattle by auction. In 1929, Frank married Monica Adam. They later had three children together: Betty Lowe, Marina Field, and Hugh. In 1933, he joined A Squadron, South Alberta Horse, at Pincher Creek, serving as a second lieutenant. He continued to serve with the Canadian Militia until he retired in 1943 with the rank of major. Lynch-Staunton was a councillor for Municipal District No. 9, Pincher Creek, and he served on the Senate of the University of Lethbridge, the Canada Council, and the boards of the Claresholm Auxiliary Hospital, the Glenbow Foundation, and Alberta Government House.
Lieutenant governor of Alberta
On the advice of Prime MinisterJoe Clark, Frank C. Lynch-Staunton was appointed lieutenant governor of Alberta on October 18, 1979. His term as lieutenant governor was completed on October 18, 1984, but he was asked to continue in office until his successor was sworn in effective January 22, 1985.
Later life
After the death of his first wife, Monica Adam, in 1976, Lynch-Staunton married Muriel B. Shaw in 1983. He later published his autobiography, Greener Pastures: The Memoirs of F. Lynch-Staunton, in 1987. Lynch-Staunton received honorary doctor of laws degrees from the University of Alberta in 1980, and the University of Lethbridge in 1983. He was a Knight of Grace of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, an honorary chief of the Blood Indians, an honorary member of the Corps of Engineers, and an honorary member of the Edmonton Consular Corps. Lynch-Staunton died in Edmonton after suffering a stroke in 1990, aged 85. He is buried in the St. George's Cemetery at Livingstone, Alberta.
