Frances C. Isley

Frances Isley was born on May 7, 1928 in Springfield, Illinois. She went home to our Lord on November 14, 2013 She is the 3rd daughter of 5 children born to Stanley Earl Castle and Caroline Cecelia Narup. She was the last surviving sibling, preceded in death by her parents, who died at a young age, she was only 5 when her mother passed away and 8 when she lost her father to pneumonia. Her sisters, Connie, Jane and Virginia and brother Jimmy all went before her.

After her parents died the 5 children were separated, Connie and Jane went to an orphanage, her brother Jimmy went to an uncles farm, then joined a circus. He later joined the Navy, was sent to England, found a girl, got married and stayed there, the sisters lost track of him. Frances and Virginia went to St. Louis Missouri to stay with their Grandmother, Virginia stayed in St. Louis and Frances went to Denver to stay with her Aunt Olive. After growing up in Denver, she left there and moved to San Francisco. After being there a short while, she and her girlfriend, for an adventure decided to hitchhike thru California to the border and ended up going all the way to Guatemala. Frances didn't seem much afraid of anything. They got back to San Francisco and this is where she met her first husband they had 2 sons, Gordon and Gaelen, they lived in a place called Pond Farm in Guerneville, California in the Redwoods.

Her husband was an architect, and designed their home from Redwood, I hear it was really nice. A few years later they lost the farm to the state. California decided to appropriate their land and house for an expansion to the state park. They went to court and lost the battle, their beautiful redwood house was razed by bulldozers and was taken over by California State Parks.

Her husband Gordon Sr. decided he had enough and they packed up and moved to Guadalajara, Mexico, where they lived for 6 years until he was killed in an automobile accident. She returned to California and went to her sister Virginia's house in Spring Valley, stayed with her until she found a home in Lemon Grove this was in 1972. She found employment, with a motorcycle parts distributor to get by and then got a job with San Diego Count Adult Probation Department, as a transcriber and then became a supervisor of her department, she was there for 20 years.

She moved to Massachusetts Avenue in Lemon Grove and this is where she first met her 2nd husband, Craig (me). She was a bit older, but we became friends, I knew her thru her son's Gordon & Gaelen as we all had off road motorcycles and would beg her to take her little Datsun Pickup to take us out riding. She usually didn't stay to watch, as her sons were young Evil Knievel's and made her nervous.

Then the tragedy of her life happened on September 4th 1976, her oldest son Gordon was killed in Tecate, Mexico in a dune buggy accident, he was only 17 years old. This hit her really hard, and stayed with her whole life. Her other son Gaelen, blessed her with 3 grandsons, Christopher Herr of Yuma, AZ, Brandon Herr of Alpine, CA and Daniel Herr of Yuma. She since has been blessed with 3 Great Grandchildren Avianna Rose & Malakai Lee, Christopher and his wife Candice's children. Her son, grandsons, great grandchildren, all have her maiden name Castle as part of their middle names, to honor her.

And Brayden Castle, 18 months, son of Brandon and his wife, Brittany, of Alpine. She referred to them as the three B's. After getting to know Frances better after the loss of her son, and helping her with things, and being her friend and companion, we were married July 30, 1977. We just celebrated our 36th wedding anniversary.

Frances was Baptized at St. John of the Cross by Father Donald Buchanan on December 8, 1972. Her going to Mass was very important to her and after we had our Marriage validated on September 26, 1992, by Monsignor Raymond Kirk, so she could go to Mass again and have Eucharist, she attended regularly. I started noticing her change in attitude, I asked her one weekend if I could go with her, she looked stunned and I started going regularly. And on April 15, 1995 I was received into the church with full sacraments thru the RCIA program. This pleased her greatly, and she was proud and I am blessed at her helping me to become Catholic, and it was fun doing things together at Church, and helping out. I brought her communion at home the past couple years due to health reasons, but she watched Mass on television as she wasn't able to deal with crowds due to a bad hip and knee. Monsignor Kirk gave her absolution and said it was alright if she wasn't able to attend.

Frances loved animals, and we were never without dogs, and all kinds of other critters throughout our marriage, we even had 2 Appaloosa mares in the back yard and a pony Bambi who is still there. She enjoyed going for drives to the mountains, Julian was one of her favorite places, and loved the Point Loma Lighthouse, and she liked Jacumba a little town above the desert. We went to the Grand Canyon, camped on the beach at San Felipe, in Baja. Numerous trips to the desert and many lunches in Old Town in San Diego. Going out to eat at least twice a week, and many, many Thanksgiving & Christmas & Birthday dinners with family.

Frances is survived by her husband, Craig (me), her son Gaelen, her 3 Grandsons and her 3 great grandsons and granddaughters in law. Many nieces and nephews, who meant the world to her.

Thankfully 2 months before her death, her Brother's family in England contacted one of her nieces, and she had finally had the mystery of her long lost brother solved. She found out he had died a few years ago, but was so very pleased to find a whole family back in England she had no clue was there. Nieces, nephews great nieces and nephews. That made her extremely happy, and when got over being so overwhelmed, she cried tears of joy. I am so happy she got that information before she left us.

She always was trying to find out what happened to her baby brother Jimmy. She is also survived by her little dachshund Bandithenry, who was joined at the hip with her for the past 15 years, he misses her tremendously and is not wanting to be left alone, also her Red Eared Slider a water turtle named Frank, she had many conversations with him. And Bambi our little pony. Her sister Virginia preceded her in death but was her best friend, they did yard sales, swap meets, old town, the fair Point Loma, the Missions, and usually spent each Saturday hanging out just being sisters, catching up on their lost time together in their childhood. Sometimes I would tag along and those two were fun to be around. Being with her baby sister, she had some of the happiest moments of her life, she was devastated when she lost her.

Her favorite clergy are going to do her Funeral Mass, Monsignor Raymond Kirk, Monsignor Donald Webber, Monsignor Ned Brockhaus and Father Richard Brown, if he is able. And our pastor Father Peter Navarra.

Frances was loved by many people, and will be greatly missed, by her friends and family. I will miss her the most, she was my wife, my soul mate and most of all my best friend. I am a very lucky man to have had a wife like her, not many marriages these days go a long time we could have made to 60 years no problem! We bought and paid for our home together, made it thru the good times and the bad, and really loved each other from the deepest part of our souls.

God Bless you Frances Louise Castle Isley, thank you for the best years of my life! I will Love you for all Eternity my dear sweet friend.

Eternal rest please grant unto Frances, O Lord. And let your perpetual light shine upon her. May she rest in peace. Amen

May her soul and the soul of all the faithfully departed, thru the mercy of God, Rest in Peace. Amen

Funeral Mass will be December 4, 2013 at St. John of the Cross Church - 8086 Broadway Lemon Grove 91945 at 10:00 am.

Potluck reception to follow in the Church Hall.