Cecil Bruce Francis

C. B. Francis was born Cecil Bruce Francis, August 9, 1926 in Houston, Texas and departed this world August 26, 2017, shortly after celebrating his 91st birthday. When he was five years old he announced loudly to his Mother that he did not like the name Cecil or Bruce and she and his siblings were to call him C.B. from then on - and they and the rest of the world did!

As a young sailor in World War II, when he met the beautiful ladies at the USO and they asked his name, he would reply "Charles Boyer" or in later years when asked, he would reply "Cash Balance."

The newspapers reported his birth as the "Elephant Baby" of Houston. He gained that title for weighing in at over 14 pounds upon birth. He grew to fit that title, 6'4" and, as he would say, "slightly over 225 pounds." Country Music Star, Bob Wills, C.B.'s cousin, came to sing at his birth. Bob's response on seeing C.B. was "Damn Zephyr, he's already a yearling".

C.B. grew up in the small north Texas town of Memphis where he played on the Memphis Cyclones football team. After high school, just as he was planning his great transition into the world outside of the Texas Panhandle, Uncle Sam came calling and he joined the U.S. Navy while WWII was raging. He was stationed aboard the U.S.S. Harkness, a minesweeper in the Pacific. As the war came to an end, his ship was re-directed to Acapulco, Mexico and then on to New York City, where he took leave of Uncle Sam (but only after his adventures on leave in Acapulco and New York). This is a family newspaper, so we cannot publish those adventures here! You might ask his wife, Mollie, to share some of those tales with you. Her philosophy is, "that was before I was born, so cheers to his happiness back then."

After the war, C.B. returned to his hometown of Memphis, but realized that his destiny was not there. He attended the University of Texas in Austin and then moved to the Ft. Worth, Texas area where some of his Wills family cousins lived. He obtained a job with a life insurance company, and a year later became a manager of that company. He enjoyed the insurance industry until 1957, when he heard of an emerging industry, the clinical nursing facility. He did research and realized that a young, fresh prospective on care might well benefit patients. He had been introduced to William B. Campbell of Austin who was also interested in the health care marketplace. He and Dr. Campbell became friends and business partners and developed a state of the art nursing facility in Austin that was acclaimed in national news media. C.B. and Dr. Campbell brought their ideas to what C.B. described as a "curmudgeonly fellow" at Austin National Bank. That banker, after calling both of them "young whippersnappers" became a close friend and strong supporter and along with the legal expertise of the Graves, Dougherty, Hearon and Moody law firm of Austin, financed a series of state of the art nursing facilities and sub-acute hospitals throughout Texas, Nevada and Oregon. During those same years, C.B. was elected President of the Texas Healthcare Association, and rose to the office of President Elect of the American Health Care Association in Washington. In that position, he was chosen as one of 6 people from across the United States to negotiate the Medicare Program with congressional leaders in Washington. Mutual of Omaha Insurance asked him to be a nationwide consultant and he travelled to every State in the country to teach and explain regulations of Medicare to their top executives. Even though business kept him busy, C.B. found time to pursue his beloved sports of hunting in Colorado and Alaska, deep sea fishing in Mexico, ballroom dancing, writing novels and flying. He has written 6 novels of the big-business-crime and intrigue genre, and one true story about growing up during the dust bowl days, the son of sharecropper in the cotton fields of the Texas Panhandle with his 7 siblings. He was a strong supporter of the Austin Symphony Orchestra and was a past member of the Knights of the Symphony. He also believed strongly in education and served for a number of years as a member of the board of trustees of Kirby Hall School, a college preparatory school in Austin. His children would like to add that he was a gourmet cook, but he several times burned the water he was boiling and they had to abandon that part of his obituary.

C.B. was headed to Colorado for a hunting trip in the fall of 1990 when he became extremely dizzy and developed double vision. A quick call to his friends at Capital Medical Clinic resulted in a trip to the neurologist where they found that he had several operable brain tumors. He hesitated in his consent for surgery saying he was concerned the surgeons might "mess with his perfect head of hair.' The argument between C.B., his brother Jim and the other doctors went on for quite a while but they finally convinced him they would save any hair they had to remove and put it in a zip lock with surgical super glue. The surgery, done

under the watchful eye of his brother, was successful and he was able to go home tumor free two weeks later - with his zip lock full of hair. His Capital Medical Clinic doctors, Frank Pearce and Grover Bynum, informed him he would now have to limit himself to just one martini on occasion since he could no longer claim double vision due to a tumor. (CB's family would like to thank all the wonderful doctors and nurses at Capital Medical Clinic for over 50 years of care, along with Angel Healthcare's Steve Henry and Glenda Davis; Dr. Vinay Kamble of Visiting Physicians and the staff of Encompass Home Health and Hospice).

He is survived by his wife, Mollie Clifton Francis and their 3 children plus grandchildren: David Philip Siddall -wife Regina and their 3 children, Kameron, Logan and Cash; Mollie Yvette Francis Shields -husband Jason and their 2 children Faron and Conway; Carole Michelle Francis Conner -husband David W. Conner and their daughter Elizabeth Michelle.; a son Michael L. Francis and his children Chad and Hunter along with their 4 children; one brother, Joseph Lawrence Francis and wife, Angie of Las Vegas and one Sister in Law, Trudy Francis of Dallas. He was predeceased by his Father, Roy N. Francis; Mother, Zephyr Wills

Francis; Brother Dr. James H. Francis and wife Wynelle Wadsworth Francis; Sister Jerri Francis Sears and husband, Burton N. Sears; Sister Irene Francis Vehon; Sister Dorothy Francis Stevens; Brother Douglas Francis and Brother David Lee Francis. He is also survived by numerous cousins, beloved nieces and nephews. He was a member of Covenant Presbyterian Church of Austin.

We all know C.B. would not want us to end this tribute without mentioning that he is also survived by his 3 "girlfriends", Carole Keeton, Beverly Rase and Donna Edgeman (Again, family newspaper .... ask his wife or children for this story).

"Go Rest High on That Mountain, CB".

Funeral service will be held on Sunday, September 3, 2017 at 2:00 PM in Cook-Walden Memorial Hill Mausoleum, 14501 North I-H35, Pflugerville, Texas 78660.

To share condolences with the family, please visit www.cookwaldenfuneralhome.com.