Frances K Wilcher

Martha Frances Kingsberry Wilcher left this world peacefully early on the morning of Sunday April 21, 2024 at the Mansions Assisted Living, Sandy Springs, Georgia. Born in Carrollton, Georgia on October 7, 1924, to a family of four children, she was told she was an accident arriving nine years after her brother Pascal. If this woman was an accident, the world is in dire need of more such accidents. Her father Harry told everyone that he didn’t care what she was named, he would call her Frances and Frances she was to everyone except those fortunate enough to call her mom and grandmother.

She arrived to a world recovering from the first world war, where women had just gained the right to vote, where prohibition ruled the day in the U.S. and was to remain in effect for another nine years. There were few commercial flights, no televisions, no antibiotics, no computers, no internet. It was the Roaring 20’s, the Great Depression had yet to leave its mark and the world was hardly recognizable when compared to that of today. The family moved to Miami when she was less than six months of age, and she would spend most of her life in South Florida. She grew up with the dreams and hopes of many a young woman but saw the world shaken by a second world war and wasn’t able to attend university. Instead, she enlisted in the war effort working at the Warner Robin’s Georgia factory. She met her beloved husband Terry while in Miami and after a brief, passionate courtship of all of two months, they wed and proceeded to build a world together. She became the mother of two sons and worked her entire life with pride, understanding the moral value of hard work and a job well done. Her many years working for Judges Dowling, Clark and Blanton at the Dade County Courthouse in the Mental Health Department were a time of great change and growth for her, for Miami, for Florida, for the U.S. and for the world. She was in the midst of it and part of it all. Though she didn’t know it, she was a real feminist, demanding respect and it was given because she’d earned it. She never considered herself beautiful, but she was a knockout. She never thought herself particularly bright but she was incredibly wise, perceptive and self-aware. She was petite but she was never small and her spirit filled every room she graced. Though she experienced some of the world, she was the quintessential American and proud of it.

Lavish with her love and kindness, concerned and caring for all but unforgiving in her disdain for pretense and the abuse of those less fortunate. She could not have cared less about race, it was all about content of character. Her moral compass was true and she had no doubt or uncertainty as to right and wrong. She was strong and unwavering in her faith. As a mother, she was damn near perfect. She sacrificed many of her dreams for the betterment of her family. She cared for her husband for twenty-three years after he was badly hurt in a senseless act of violence. She raised her children to be virtuous, Christian men, caring and respectful of others, not better than anyone but as good as anyone. The fault of any shortfall lay squarely on their shoulders. In spite of facing innumerable hardships and obstacles, she remained optimistic through it all and, after her husband passed, she lived independently in Peachtree Corners, Georgia until she was ninety-five.

She considered herself blessed to have been able to give her sons braces, a college education and open doors for them to access opportunities that she never had. As a wife, she was so grateful that she had been strong and healthy enough to care for her husband during his sickness. She was also thankful for indoor plumbing as she had endured outhouses earlier in her life. Unafraid in life and completely fearless of death, she was a lion and inspiration to us all. She was unique, our pillar, and our light. The sting of this loss brings profound sadness because we miss her so but, we are also grateful for having had her in our lives and proud because she lived such a long and truly wonderful life. We will continue on with style in her manner, “time to get the show on the road”, committed to doing her honor with the living of our own lives.

She is survived by her two sons; Steve (Fiona - deceased) of Glencoe, Illinois; Paul (Teresa) of Peachtree Corners, Georgia, her three granddaughters; Frances of Dunwoody, Georgia; Rachel of Peachtree Corners, Georgia; Katherine of London, England and many other relatives and friends. Services and reception will be held on May 9 at 12:30 at the Norcross First Global Methodist Church on Beaver Ruin Road. The Interment will be at the Arlington Park Cemetery, Sandy Springs, Georgia on May 9 at 3:30 where she will be laid to rest next to her beloved husband Terry.

In lieu of flowers, please make donations to either the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital or the Norcross First Global Methodist Church.