Frances: A Steel Magnolia

In Loving Memory of Frances Bennett McFerrin, August 21, 1925 - August 3, 2012

Here is an excerpt from my speech at her funeral,
"The past few years, whenever we visited my grandmother in her assisted living home, she would have pictures just all over the place, constantly going through them, reliving all the memories. I developed an interest in them as well. This past May, when she began to go downhill, I started scanning and cataloguing them for this purpose.

Scanning and sharing these photos has become one of the most meaningful things I have ever done.

I only knew one side of my grandmother: The Nikken magnet selling, velour pant suit wearing Frances, who always put money in my birthday cake, told the most hilarious stories and never missed an opportunity to buy something new and get another free.

Through these pictures, I have been able to know her and love her through every stage of her life. I love twenty four year old Frances, working in the city, relaxing with best friends on the beach, rarely off the arm of a handsome man, always with a smile and lust for life.

I love Frances in her thirties. You will see her transform from a new mother, delicately cradling baby Cathy, to a Queen of domesticity, wrangling the kids out of their jeans and into their finest Easter attire, all without burning the roast.

I love Frances in her fifties and sixties, embarking on a new stage in life. She fearlessly traveled around the world, spend time with the ladies of Eastside and graciously and lovingly welcomed new members into the family.

Frances lived a long, full, beautiful life, not without trials and not without sorrow. 

But she bore it all with unshakable faith 

and the indisputable elegance and grace of a great Southern Lady... 

a Steel Magnolia"

I am working on a post now that wraps up my gap year experience, but I am just have to take some time right now.