Frances Turns 92!!!

My mother-in-law, Frances, turns the ripe old age of 92 today. We are going out to visit her at Alden Terrace in McHenry in just a little bit.

She was born in Kansas on August 5, 1915, and grew up in the very small town of Holland, near Abilene. She stayed with people in Abilene to go to high school as there was not one near her home.

She started working as a bookkeeper in the office of Duckwall's Five and Ten store in Abilene right out of high school.

Frances met her future husband, Ambrose, during WWII, while he was stationed at Abilene. He was a captain in ordnance from Green Bay, Wisconsin. They no doubt would not have met had it not been for the war.

He had a series of jobs after the war as a traveling auditor for Rheem and Mall Tool Corporation that took him to Oakland, Ca, Elizabeth, NJ, New Orleans, La, and Houston, Tx. They settled in Chicago and my wife, Liz, was born in 1951.

He always wanted to own his own business and in 1955 opened Fran's (named after Frances) Delicatessen on Chicago's West Side. He ran that until a Jewel Tea grocery store opened and put him out of business.

Frances continued to work as a bookkeeper at Steel Fabricating and Checkline Corporation in Chicago during this time.

He then got a job at the General Finance Corporation in Evanston. This company made loans to people. He retired in 1981. In the meantime, they moved out to Palatine, Illinois, where I met Liz.

They lived in the house on Patricia Lane until Ambrose died in 1986. The following year, Frances moved to a two bedroom apartment in Arlington Heights and lived there until 2004. She then moved to an assisted living apartment on the square in Woodstock, Illinois.

Here's hoping for many more birthdays to quite a remarkable woman.

Don