About Frances
Frances was born on April 20, 1986 at Fountain Valley Regional Hospital in Fountain Valley, California. She grew up in Irvine, California attending preschool at First Christian Church, elementary school at Alderwood Basics Plus, middle school at Lakeside, and high school at Woodbridge. From a young age, Frances showed great artistic, athletic, and leadership talents. Throughout her youth, she won several awards for her paintings and was on Irvine All-Star and travel teams for softball and soccer. At Lakeside Middle School she showed leadership abilities as the Secretary of the ASB and at Woodbridge High, she played on Varsity Volleyball while consistently making it on the Principal's Honor Roll. Frances attended college at Cal Poly University, San Luis Obispo. She was a member of the Gamma Phi Beta Sorority and held the position of VP Panhellenic during her junior year. From the beginning, Frances showed her loving nature and was a friend to all.
Frances was a lover of food and as much as she loved to eat, she also loved to cook for family and friends, whether it was baking desserts or creating new recipes from scratch. She also loved fashion and often designed many of the dresses she wore. She enjoyed spending time outdoors at the beach, surfing or playing beach volleyball, hiking, and playing tennis. Aside from her gorgeous smile and contagious laugh, Frances was best known for her kind heart. Frances had a special love for animals and during one of her regular visits to Woods Humane Society to visit with the shelter animals, spotted a third-chance three-legged chocolate lab. Although she hadn’t planned for it, she instantly knew that she had to adopt her. Frances took Macey home from Woods Humane Society the next day and gave her the best new life she could, always putting Macey’s wellbeing first. Frances’s love for animals was only rivaled by her love for people. She fully devoted herself 2-3 times a week regularly, while still in school on a full-time basis, to various volunteer organizations including bringing lunches to the elderly, helping people with special needs pick strawberries at the local farms, and volunteering for the Special Olympics, the SLO chapter when at school, and the Orange County chapter at home. One of Frances' proudest accomplishments was completing a 10k run at an elevation of 1500 ft. on Madonna Mtn. in SLO in March 2008, with the proceeds benefitting SLO County's Special Olympics.
Frances was always such a bright light and brought happiness to whoever was around her, but she also had her own struggles with depression. Frances was finishing her senior year at Cal Poly when she took her own life on November 10, 2008 in San Luis Obispo, CA. She is survived by her parents, Kerry and Benjamin and younger sister, Kristie. Frances truly touched the lives of everyone she met and is greatly missed and forever lovingly remembered by all those who knew her. One of Frances' favorite quotes was "You must be the change you wish to see in the world" – M. Gandhi, and she strived to live by example every day within her short life. She identified as a Christian and exemplified the core of being a Christian by always striving to love the poor, the needy, and the forgotten through unselfish and never-ending kind acts.
Frances’s Favorite Quotes
"Friendship marks a life even more deeply than love. Love risks degenerating into obsession, friendship is never anything but sharing." - Elie Wiesel
"Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom." - Marcel Proust
"You must be the change you wish to see in the world." - Mahatma Gandhi
"To keep our faces toward change and behave like free spirits in the presence of fate is strength undefeatable" - Helen Keller
