Frances Reilly O'Connor

Born in Providence Rhode Island in November of 1934, Frances graduated from St. Pius School in 1948 and from Saint Francis Xavier’s Academy High School in 1952. She attended Rhode Island College of Education and graduated with a Bachelor of Education degree in 1956. She returned to Rhode Island College and completed a Master of Education degree in 1977.

She spent her early teaching career as an elementary school teacher in Barrington, Rhode Island. In 1965, she met Jeremiah O’Connor, a Naval officer stationed at Quonset Point, RI, and four months later they married. They moved across the country and then overseas, as Fran assumed the duties of a Navy wife. In 1977, they decided to settle in Spotsylvania, VA.

Fran resumed her teaching career in Spotsylvania County schools as a seventh grade English teacher at John J. Wright Middle school. Those were lively and challenging years for the native Rhode Islander, as she and her students struggled to understand one another’s distinctive accents. She went on to work as a Family Life coordinator and teacher and then as a teacher for struggling students at Battlefield Middle School. She worked with great groups of teachers and counselors during her career and made lifelong friendships.

Upon retiring from Spotsylvania Schools, Fran spent several years as a National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) testing administrator. She and Jerry traveled to Paris and Alaska and places closer to home. Always a Rhode Islander, they bought a small condominium in Narragansett, Rhode Island and Fran spent summers there, visiting with her sister Hope and their cousins. She enjoyed walking the wall and eating clam cakes and clam chowder. As her husband Jerry would often remark, you could take the girl out of Rhode Island but not Rhode Island out of the girl.

A voracious reader, Fran is remembered for spending time stretched on the couch, reading a book while snapping gum. Fran’s mind remained sharp and nimble to the end. She mastered the iPad; ordering Door Dash and groceries with the ease of a teenager, and read books on her Kindle. She loved to talk and kept in touch with new and old friends.

She is survived by her loving husband, Jerry; daughters, Meghan O’Connor (Ethel Hellman) and Elizabeth O’Connor (Kipp Wright); and two grandsons, Colin and Brennan Wright, her Danish daughter, Juliane Albjerg (Brian Rudolph) and their three children, Daniel, Rebecca and Rose.

Always happy to offer her lifetime of wisdom, Fran built strong relationships with a dedicated group of people, young and not so, who helped her navigate her declining health. She is survived, too, by this wonderful found family: Brittany Brookover, Rachel Childress, Sonya Bowman, and the indomitable Theresa Segbedzi.

The family expresses their thanks to her medical team for their care these last few years, Dr. Dylan Lindauer her PCP, Dr. Maria Darland her Rheumatologist, Dr. Carl Waldman, her Neurologist, Dr. Jon Mozena, Immunologist and Jamie Mijango, NP Infectious Disease.

A memorial service will be held at St. Georges’ Episcopal Church, 905 Princess Anne Street, Fredericksburg, on Saturday August 16 at 10:00 a.m. reception to follow.

Frances will be interred at a later date in St. Francis Cemetery South Kingston, Rhode Island