She spent most of her childhood and teens with her 2 first cousins, Terry and Joanie. They never did anything without each other. In their teens, They spent their weekends during WW2 dancing at Tune Town, a local dance hall that brought in big bands from across the country. Frances and Terry eventually became ballroom dancing teachers above Tune Town and sometimes sang with the touring bands. Frances often spoke about meeting Doris Day (didn’t like her) and singing with Rosemary and Betty Clooney, whom she stayed friends with for many years after.
In 1948, while out with friends, she met John O’Shaughnessy. Though they had grown up in the same neighborhood, they had never met before. The first night they met, John told Frances that he was going to marry her, and within 6 months they were engaged. They married a few months later in 1949 and Frances was warmly welcomed by John’s large Irish Catholic family. Frances worked at a bank in downtown St Louis for the first year of her marriage and was known for her black pin curled hair , perfect eyebrows, red lipstick and the scent of White Shoulders perfume. when she discovered that she was expecting her first child she dedicated herself to being a full time mother and home maker. She was a devoted mother to her daughter Karen and son Mark, and was known for sending them to school with home cooked Sicilian food in their lunch boxes. Frances loved being a fireman’s wife and talked about the many years that she would wash and starch her husband’s white shirts that would often come home black after a fire.
Frances and Jack had a very lively social life throughout the 1950s, 60s, 70s and 80s. Still close to Terry and Joanie and their husbands, the three couples and their kids spent weekends playing golf together, camping, having bbqs, playing bridge and doing fondue nights. They also moved to the same street as Jack’s 5 sisters and spent almost every day as a family. Every Saturday Jack’s brother Father Richard, would come to say mass for the whole family in the sister’s basement , and holidays were extra large events that would have Frances cooking and planning for weeks in advance.
Frances had a beautiful, melodic singing voice and most days the house was filled with the sound of 1940s music on the radio and Frances singing while she cleaned and cooked. She would start cooking dinner around noon and she spent hours making traditional Italian recipes like salsiccia, fried peppers, stuffed artichokes, and red sauced pastas. In the 1970s her mother moved into their home as her children were moving out and getting married. Frances and Jack gave up retirement traveling to take care of family, and to help to raise and create a stable home for their 2 granddaughters and send them to private Catholic school.
Frances was good at drawing and could do a quick sketch of almost anything. She also kept daily diaries, extremely detailed hour by hour accounts of each day.
In 1995 she suffered the sudden death of her only daughter, Karen. Frances was so devastated by this loss that she never turned on the radio or sang again after her passing. She relied on her faith and took strength from her family, especially her brother-in-law Fr Richard O’Shaughnessy.
In her later years she great took joy in getting to know 3 more of her grandchildren and delighted in the births of her great grandchildren, who all affectionately referred to her as “GG”.
Frances was a committed, faithful, and devout Catholic for her entire life. She watched mass from her bedroom at least twice a day and often said that she drew strength from envisioning Michelangelo’s “Pieta” during times of fear and sorrow.
She is survived by her grandchildren Heather O’Shaughnessy, Megan Steen (Brian), Kerensia Blackman (Drew), Richard Van Gelder (Reenie) , Kelly Slavin and her beloved great grandchildren Tyler, Violetta, Hunter, John, Finn, Sadie, and baby Talia. She also leaves behind her loving nieces and nephews in the Moynahan family, her loving daughter in law Deborah, cousins, and dear friends Georgianna and Kevin.
Visitation at Kutis Affton Chapel 10151 Gravois Rd. 63123 on Monday, February 2 from 9:00 am. until Funeral Service time at 10:00 am. Interment at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery.