Address at the funeral of Frances Davis - 12th September 2006
Frances, known to her family as Frankie, was born in 1915 at Thornton Heath in Surrey, the youngest of three sisters, and educated at a local Convent. She trained as a shorthand typist at the Pitman College in Croydon, and worked for a time in London's West End for the estate agents Knight Frank & Rutley, as they were then known. About this time Frankie learned to drive, when this was quite an advanced thing for a girl to do.
When her parents retired in the late 1930's, she moved with them from the bustle of London to the somewhat quieter atmosphere of Worthing in Sussex. But within a couple of years War broke out, and Worthing, right on the south coast, was almost in the front line. It was at this time, whilst helping in the ARP canteen in Worthing Town Hall, that she first met her husband-to-be Donald, who was in the Home Guard there on firewatching duty. Over the tea and biscuits they discovered a mutual love of amateur dramatics, which was to become a lifelong interest for them both. They married in 1943, raising their two sons, Rod and Don.
Once Rod and Don were old enough, Frankie went back to work, firstly in local businesses in the West Sussex area, and then in Kent when Donald's job took the family there in 1960. In 1962 she became a Civil Servant when she started work as a shorthand typist at the School of Infantry in Hythe, beginning her long association with the Army. In due course she became PA to a Lieutenant Colonel at Shornecliffe camp, a role she thoroughly enjoyed and made her own. She subsequently advanced to the job of PA to a succession of Brigadiers in the Intelligence Corps at Ashford in Kent, until she and Donald retired together in 1980, when they came to settle here in Fordingbridge.
Apart from her work, her chief interests were the foreign travel, amateur dramatics, and the church. Before the War Frankie went to Italy and Germany with her sister Margaret, quite adventurous when continental holidays were less common than they are these days. In the 60s and 70s she and Donald enjoyed a series of trips to France, Germany, and Italy, and she once went on her own to Cyprus courtesy of the RAF to see Rod when he was serving with the Met Office there.
On the amateur stage, Frankie frequently acted major roles in plays put on by the dramatic societies where they were living - on one occasion memorably as Mrs Pugh in "Under Milk Wood" at Folkestone - and more recently she played character parts with the Godshill Players and the St Mary's Players (now the Victoria Players) here in Fordingbridge.
Sadly Donald died in 1990, but Frankie kept active until recently, keeping up her involvement with the amateur theatre and becoming more involved in the activities of the Church, a particular interest being in Ecumenism. From her experience on the stage she had learned clear speech, good projection and intelligent articulation. She could always be heard and understood when she fulfilled her ministry of Reader at Mass.
Frankie became well known in Fordingbridge, even in her later years getting out most days, and could be seen making the rounds of the local shops and the bank and her regular visit to Coffee and Cream in the High Street for a meal.
Almost to the end of her life, despite great frailty and to the dismay of her Parish Priest, she insisted on coming to the Sacrament of Penance on Saturdays.
Last year, by then living in Green Lane House just round the corner here, she was able to celebrate a notable milestone with her immediate family around her when she reached her 90th birthday.
She was a parishioner of distinction, a minister in the Liturgy, a friend and faithful member of Christ's Body the Church. We pray that the Lord will remember her and the good she has done, forgive her sins and grant her the light and reward of everlasting life.
Frances, may you rest in peace and live in Christ.
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