A graveside service will be held at 11 a.m. Eastern Daylight Savings Time, Saturday, October 29, 2022 at Lakeview Memory Gardens. She will be interned next to her beloved husband, John F. Duke, Sr., who passed away in 2005.
Frances was born December 21, 1923, in Salem, Ala. Her parents were Elias Thado and Pearlie Lee (McCartha) Plott, and she was the tenth of their 11 children - in all, nine boys and two girls. She grew up on the Plott family’s farm in Salem and moved to Columbus, Ga., when she was 18.
Frances worked in the finishing room and then the lab at Muscogee Mills on Front Avenue and 14th Street during World War II. After the war, she became a clerk in the local tax office. In 1960 she became a full-time homemaker after marrying John, a machinist at Fort Benning’s Lawson Army Airfield.
John and Frances were the proud parents of three children: Judy H. Selman of Phenix City; Ronnie C. Henderson of Columbus; and John F. Duke, Jr., of Foley, Ala. They built a home and raised their family in Phenix City, where they were long-time members of First Presbyterian Church.
Following John’s death, Frances spent the remainder of her life in their home. She and her family were much appreciative of her household caregivers there during the past few years – including her dear friends Jaime and Sam Singer; Linda Clegg; Joy Hall; and Kathy Phillips.
Frances’ two sons and her daughters-in-law, Barbaree Duke and Karen Henderson, survive her, as do five grandchildren: Meagan Farr of Opelika, Ala.; Alecia Cravey, of Midland, Ga.; Erin Henderson of Tucson, Ariz.; Ryan Henderson of Kennesaw, Ga.; and Sean Selman of Atlanta, along with their spouses and partners. She leaves behind four great-grandchildren: Hannah, Asa, Aiden, and Madison.
Frances’s daughter preceded her in death in 2009, and her son-in-law William Selman died in 2015. Her siblings all passed away between 1961 and 2014.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that friends and loved ones make a donation to Presbyterian Home for Children, P.O. Drawer 577, Talladega, AL. 35161, www.phfc.org .
