Foncell Fields Powell

Iva Foncell Fields Powell, 93, died peacefully on February 11, 2024, in Fort Worth, TX. Eldest child of Bonnie Alice Bell and Cecil H. Fields, Foncell was born on her grandparents’ farm in Anna, TX, on March 27, 1930.

When she was a few months old, Foncell’s parents moved east of Westminster, TX, where they had cows, mules, chickens, hogs, and, most importantly, three more children. When her father had to temporarily follow harvests to Kansas, her mother was left to tend to the farm and children. Even in single-digit age, Foncell was an old soul with a keen eye for those who needed help and pitched in, taking her charges as big sister and farmhand seriously. While deeply informed by the Great Depression and the farming hardships that came with living in the Dust Bowl, Foncell and her siblings found idyll in the everyday. She wrote it best:

“We delighted in butterflies, lightning bugs, gathering violets on an occasional summer night, sleeping on a wagon-load of cotton under the millions of stars in the Milky Way…It was a universe that inspired awe.”

If Foncell’s childhood was a movie, it’d be scored by her mother’s recitation of lines from the 100 poems she’d had to memorize in high school. Foncell would milk cows to Hamlet’s soliloquy, harvest and can garden-grown produce to Ella Wheeler Wilcox’s “Solitude,” and fall asleep to her favorite, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “A Psalm of Life.”

Foncell was a lifetime lover of the written word, and always cited learning to read as her greatest liberation, transporting her to fascinating new worlds. She read every book she could get her hands on, and while she loved various subject matter, Foncell’s most thrilling day of school was the morning she boarded the school bus and met eyes with the handsomest boy she’d ever seen, Alton Dee Powell. She was smitten.

On September 4, 1946, Foncell and Alton wed and started their lives together in Dallas, where Foncell worked at Swartchild & Co. After welcoming their first child, Ronda Gail, on a rare, snowy day in December 1947, Foncell stayed home to care for her. Six years later, when she was eight months pregnant with their second child, Foncell suffered a ruptured appendix. After surgery, Foncell’s parents and Alton were informed that while the baby could be saved, Foncell was not likely to survive. A devout Christian, she later described a near-death experience: no tunnel, no voices, just a bright, white place, and a figure in white with their back to her. She said it was the most peaceful place she’d ever been, but, miraculously, she didn’t stay. In 1954, Foncell was joyfully alive and well to welcome a son, Alton Keith.

Foncell knew she wanted to write, and enrolled in a college journalism course in 1956. It was there the seed of her primary subject was planted, the exploration of the differences she found between Jesus’ teachings and Paul’s letters. Over the next 50+ years Foncell diligently researched, wrote, and took courses. When not tending to her children and grandchildren, who affectionately called her Nany, she was consumed by biblical research at any drivable academic library, reviewing a bunch of source material no one can pronounce. In 2004, her musings were published in World and I, and her thesis, Robbing Peter to Pay Paul: The Usurpation of Jesus and the Original Disciples, published in 2009, contains the distillation of her life’s work. When not with family or working on her book, she volunteered at church, wrote for newspapers, and eventually worked with her son, Keith, owner and publisher of Fort Worth Key Magazine, as editor. She retired only when poor vision prevailed.

Despite her devotion to unpacking dry biblical texts, Foncell’s lifelong love affair with fiction never waned. From Chaucer to Tennessee Williams to Ralph Ellison to her beloved Brontës, the joy of reading was her second favorite thing to evangelize, especially to her grandchildren, whose suspicion of her bookish enthusiasm made her laugh. Nany’s Cultural Bootcamp extended to her favorite movies, too, from To Kill a Mockingbird to Rodgers & Hammerstein classics to The Red Balloon, a dialogue-free arthouse film especially meaningful to her great-granddaughter with impaired hearing. Without a doubt, Foncell was happiest when spending time with her grands and great-grands.

Foncell was always even-tempered in her communication, but never shied away from unpopular dissension. She was in vehement opposition to the Jim Crow south, and made it a point to cover Black History Month assignments at the Southwest Times Record in Arkansas, despite the night desk editor throwing coverage requests in the trash. She spent her entire life maintaining people-first values in line with the teachings of Jesus. At 5’3” she was small but mighty, always holding her own during the lively debates she loved having with family at Sunday lunch, which she faithfully prepared and hosted every week. Foncell baked a mean red velvet cake, beat everyone at Scrabble, and always conversed from a place of curiosity, never condescension or self-righteousness. The most serious expletive she emitted was “frickle frats!” Harsh.

It’s absolutely impossible to sum up the inimitable Foncell Powell, but know this: Foncell never did anything halfway. She immersed herself in writing and research, parenthood, grandparenthood, and great-grandparenthood, and, most of all, marriage. Her lifelong romance and partnership with Alton, her treasured husband of 76 years, was one for the ages. Together, they built a life that fulfilled all of their dreams.

Foncell has returned to that bright, white place of peace. This time, I imagine the figure in white turned around to welcome her, accompanied by Alton, who has been patiently waiting for her arrival. This time, she’ll stay.

Foncell is predeceased by her husband, grandparents, parents, and siblings Janie Beth Proctor, Dee Ann Cody and husband Carl Edward Cody. She is survived by brother Pat Fields and wife Judy Fields; Daughter Ronda Powell Watkins and partner Howard Wharton, son Alton Keith Powell and wife Stacia Duncan Powell; Grandchildren Natalie Watkins Ricketts and husband Justin Henderson Ricketts, Alton Duncan Powell and wife Amy Wingard Powell, Alexander James Powell, Bailey Powell Aldrich and husband Richard Steere Aldrich IV, Ashley Rae Wymore and partner Robert Brian Liszewski; Great-grandchildren Hannah Ricketts Hossain and husband Syed Faizan Hossain, Madeline Ricketts Hall and husband Keegan Charles Hall, Brooklyn Trip Powell, Ransom Alexander Powell, River Grey Powell, Zygmunt “Ziggy” Robert Liszewski, Willow James Powell, and one great-great-grandchild on the way, Hallett Henderson Hossain. She is survived by many beloved nieces and nephews.

The visitation will be held Tuesday, February 20, 6-8 p.m., and the funeral will be held Wednesday, February 21, 11 a.m., both at Moore Funeral Home & Memorial Gardens located at 1219 N. Davis Dr. Arlington, TX, 76012. Foncell was so proud of her great-grandaughter’s flower shop, Trophy Blooms, and loved to visit her store. If you’d like to send flowers to the funeral home, please call Trophy Blooms at 817-271-0250. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Alton and Foncell’s favorite charitable organization, Mission Arlington.