Frances Orsborn

Frances Orsborn, a loving, devoted wife, mother and grandmother, died Oct. 26. She was 92 and passed away at home with her children at her bedside. The daughter of Italian immigrants Sebastiano Medaglia and Anna Bonavita Medaglia, Frances was born February 3, 1924 in Simpson, West Virginia, and raised in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. She had 10 siblings. With two brothers and a sister already in the military during World War II, Frances enlisted in the Women's Army Corps at age 19 on January 20, 1944 in Pittsburgh after leaving her job as a slotting machine operator with The Fairfield Paper Company in Beaver Falls. "I had never been away from home and didn't know how I'd feel about leaving my family, but everyone was going in and I just wanted to help out in some way," Frances recalled years later of enlisting.

While stationed first at Camp Maxey near Paris, Texas, and later William Beaumont General Hospital in El Paso as a medical technician with the 69th WAC Hospital Co., she cared for GIs and German and Italian POWs until she received an honorable discharge as a Tech 5 on April 27, 1946. One of the soldiers she treated was a decorated Army sergeant from Dallas named Gus H. Orsborn, who was recovering from a bullet wound he suffered during combat in Germany in February 1945. "Who is the blonde?" she asked a fellow WAC the first time she saw Gus. After a courtship that included watching lots of movies, they were married April 6, 1946 in El Paso, a union that produced four children and lasted until Gus' death in 2001.

A lifelong Catholic, Frances was a faithful, generous member of Blessed Sacrament Parish for 50 years. She was kind and considerate to all, loved her country and never let anything interfere with her devotion to her family. "She was cream of the crop, generous to everybody," her youngest sibling, Kate Scanlon, said. Guided by her strong faith, she always faced adversity with a positive attitude, which allowed her to survive the loss of loved ones, breast cancer and 40 years of living with Type 2 diabetes.

Frances was preceded in death by her daughter, Barbara Grewe. She is survived by children Mary Orsborn and her companion Jorge Servin, John Orsborn and his wife Rose Martinez-Orsborn, Tom Orsborn and his wife Beth Becker-Orsborn; step-daughter Linda Davidson; son-in-law Toby Grewe; grandchildren Paul Orsborn and his wife Belinda, David Orsborn and his wife Cecilia, Christina LeDoux and her husband Michael LeDoux, and Kris Grewe; and six great-grandchildren. The family wishes to thank caretakers Sylvia Castillo and Missy Lopez, neighbor and family friend Roger Larralde and the staff from Embrace Hospice who cared for Frances in her final days.

A visitation will be held Tuesday, November 1st from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Porter Loring on McCullough with recitation of the Rosary to begin at 7 p.m. A Funeral Mass will be held Wednesday, November 2nd at 10 a.m. at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church, 600 Oblate Dr. Graveside service will be held at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, November 2nd at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery with Military Honors. A reception at Blessed Sacrament Parish Center will be held afterward. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorial contributions be made in the name of Frances Orsborn to the American Diabetes Association's Memorial and Honor Program-NCC, PO Box 11454 Alexandria, Va., 22312.