Frances B. Sheldon (nee Boland) was 93 years old when she left this world to be with the Lord on Saturday, July 22, 2017. After a brief time on Hospice, she passed peacefully at home, as she always wanted. She was visited by family and friends in her last days, and took her final breath surrounded by love and prayer.
Frances was “born small”, a phrase common in 1924 to mean that she was born undersized and frail with both vision and hearing difficulties. She was the youngest of the three surviving children and was often the peacemaker between her sister, Irene, and brother, Albert. She was held out of school until the second grade because of her health, and she first attended Most Holy Rosary Catholic school with her cousin, Anna Marie, after a family request to their parish priest. One year later, she was accepted into her home parish’s school at the Most Blessed Sacrament Catholic school for third grade. Later, she attended St. Joseph’s Academy for high school. Her family left their home on St. Louis Avenue in North St. Louis in the early 1940s and moved to Webster Groves. Frances married her beloved Jim on May 1, 1970 at Cure of Ars Catholic Church. She lived in the family home she cherished for the remainder of her life.
To know her later in life, you never would have known her beginnings were so fragile. She was a voracious crossword puzzle solver – preferring to do them in ink – and an avid reader. She also loved gardening, fishing in her younger years, the baseball Cardinals, the Japanese Garden at The Missouri Botanical Gardens and she was an enthusiastic listener of KMOX, most notably, she and Jim were devoted listeners of The Big Bumper, Jim White, every night from 10pm-2 am.
She was kind to everyone she met. She was a lover of strays, both human and animal. She never turned away any person or animal in need and her home was sanctuary to all who needed shelter. She volunteered at St. Agnes Catholic Church in St. Louis City for many years and was a generous daughter, wife, sister, aunt, friend and neighbor. Her presence will be deeply missed by all who were blessed to have known her.
She is preceded in death by her parents, Albert J. Boland and Irene (Kilcullen) Boland; her beloved husband James P. Sheldon; her sister Irene (Boland) Brouk and her husband, Ralph Brouk; her brother Albert J. Boland Jr. and his wife, Elaine (Jahn) Boland; her brothers in law Robert, Howard and Gerald Sheldon and her sister in law Mary (Sheldon) Gemke. She is survived by her nephews Richard and Ralph Brouk; their sons Ryan, Terragan and Brannagan; her niece, Susan Boland; her brother in law Lawrence Sheldon; her sisters in law Agnes (Sheldon) Kahn, Janet Sheldon and Carol Sheldon. She was dear aunt, great aunt, cousin and friend to many.
Visitation and a funeral mass will be held at Cure of Ars Catholic Church, 670 S. LacledeStation Road, on Thurs. July 27 at 10:00 am followed by entombment at Calvary Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Stray Rescue or the Missouri Botanical Garden. The family extends their immense appreciation and gratitude to Frances’ caregivers and Hospice team, who so lovingly cared for her in her final days. A service of KUTIS AFFTON CHAPEL.