Frances Mercier Bamberger

On April 6th, 2019, our dear Aunt/Step-Mother suddenly left this world shortly after a final fall revealed an untreatable brain bleed. She passed peacefully in her sleep, four hours past the first anniversary of the loss of her most beloved sister, Jeanette M. Hawthorne.

In her younger days, Fran very much loved her puppies & cats. She was almost never without at least two poodles – usually one black and one white. She also enjoyed good food and a homemade cocktail with family & friends. The type of cocktail often depended on the day of the week – as in Sunday brunch was often topped off by a classic Bloody Mary. She also loved a good Italian sausage & black olive pizza accompanied by a primo lager. Other evenings she might sip a Margarita, Pina Colada, or Pink Squirrel – she liked them sweet; but would enjoy only one throughout the evening.

She loved being close with her family & step-families – the more the merrier, but especially with her sister, Jeanette, without whom she had been lost this past year. She & Jeanette had been fairly inseparable throughout their lives, moving from Virginia to New York, California, and finally Texas. The final 25 years of their lives, they lived in separate houses in the same neighborhood in Garland, TX, until illness forced them to do otherwise. She collected poodle figurines & Chinese vases. She loved to decorate her kitchen with strawberries. Her favorite colors of light seafoamy greens and apricot melons were cool & inviting to all who knew her. She also loved flower shops & watching birds in the garden.

Now having reunited with her sister, we know that she Rests in Peace, her Memory Eternal.

Fran joins her parents, Emile Jean Mercier & Lily Mize Mercier, as well as her sisters, Claudine Audrey Mercier & Jeanette Mercier Hawthorne, her brother, Emil Jean Mercier, and her final husband & love of her life, Jerome G. Bamberger.

She is survived by only one sibling: Linette (Mildred) Mercier; her nephews, Richard David Hawthorne, (wife Natalia); John Mercier Sr., (wife Debbie); and nieces, Mattye (Debra) Lee Thompson, (husband Jason); Monica Mercier Rintoul, (husband John); and Karen Mercier Stasney, (husband Tony); her Grandnephews/nieces, Bryan Scott Phillips, (wife Alyssa), Mandy Lynn (Phillips) Rolley and Derek Logan Phillips (fiancé Emily), and her Great-grandnephews/nieces, Madeline June Phillips, Michael David Phillips, Caleb Daniel Phillips, and Hope Ray Rolley; Fran’s first step-daughters, Anita Faye Alexis & Kathleen Diane Goodwin; her step-relations by her final marriage to Jerome, Bill Bamberger & Janie Bamberger Ellis, and finally, Fran’s best friend & neighbor, Nancy Frantkowski.

We will hold her memorial & inurnment on Saturday, May 18th at 11:00am CST:

Sparkman/Hillcrest Funeral Home -

Mausoleum – Library, Niche H3,

7405 W. Northwest Hwy,

Dallas, TX 75225

Please join us with any happy memories you wish to share about her.