Frances Taylor Martin, 87, of Highland Springs, Va, passed away Thursday, December 5, 2019. She is survived by her children Lora M. Parker (Scott), Claude L. Martin, Jr. (Susan), Michael Martin (Suzanne) and Christine M. McCoy (Rich). Grandchildren Scott (Breezy) Parker, Jr., Kristen Marie Hess, Anthony Patrick Parker, Kimberly Anne Lambert and Lindsey Ryan Smith. Great-grandchildren Tara Breanne Parker, Justin Dane Parker, Joshua Dillon Parker, David Milton Hess, Jr., Sarah Brianne Lambert, Kristopher Michael Hess, Rachel Corinne Lambert and Caleb Mathew Lambert. She was predeceased by her husband, Claude, in 2000 and one of her grandchildren, Christopher Ray (Rabbit) Martin, in 2010. For the last 10 years of her life, Frances, who was never really a pet person, doted on her cat Magic, who doted on her right back. Frances lived in her Highland Springs home for almost 60 years.
Viewing for family and friends will be 2-4 and 6-8pm, Tuesday, December 10, at Nelsen Funeral Home, 4650 S. Laburnum Avenue, Richmond, VA 23231. A funeral mass will be held at 1:00pm Wednesday, December 11, at St. John’s Catholic Church, 811 W. Nine Mile Road, Henrico, VA 23075. There will be a viewing from 12-12:45 at the church, prior to the service. Interment will follow at Washington Memorial Park in Sandston.
Family and friends are invited to leave online condolences at www.nelsenrichmond.com.
Frances was raised from the ages of 2 to 7 in Wytheville, Virginia, before being placed at St. Joseph’s Villa where she remained for the next 9 years of her life. Raised as an orphan, she left the Villa at the age of 16 to begin her life as an adult.
She graduated from St. Patrick's school, in Church Hill, where she was a member of the basketball team.
After graduation, she was a member of the Thalhimers' sponsored aquatics team, a sport now considered synchronized swimming.
She met Claude Lenwood Martin in 1950, on a blind date, and they married on March 16th, 1951. Their union lasted 49 years until his death in 2000. During those years, Frances and Claude were blessed with 4 children, 6 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.
Frances worked at RECO (Richmond Engineering Company), on Hospital Street, in Richmond for several years. She then worked for Kelly Temp Services, who placed her at MCV in the Visual Education department. She was later hired full time by the hospital. After leaving to raise her family, she returned to MCV years later to work in the business office of the Cardiac Cath Lab before her retirement in 1997.
Frances was a longstanding member of St. John’s Catholic Church, in Highland Springs, and was active in the Council of Women, the Choir and the Funeral Luncheon Committee. She was an accomplished seamstress, creating wedding dresses for both of her daughters and other relatives and friends. She loved the holidays and the Christmas village that she created under her tree was a source of pride and joy.
While at St. Joseph's Villa, Frances had the good fortune to be taken under the wing of Agatha McCracken, and eventually the entire McCracken family. This culminated in her symbolic adoption by the McCracken family at 50 years of age.
Also while at the villa she had the immense good fortune to meet many people who would become close friends throughout her life. Three of them became her family; Joan Smith, Patsy Donati and Betty Lou Hambright were her closest and most trusted friends. They visited each other individually, and as families, throughout their lives and remained close right to the end.
At about 60 years of age, Frances became a sleuth and began looking for her birth parents who she believed to still be alive. After a remarkable search, which included out of town trips to courthouses and small towns, she was able to locate and meet both her mother and father before their deaths, as well as several siblings, who reside in Kentucky. She spent time in the following years visiting and corresponding with her reunited biological family.
Because of Frances' long and twisting road to find her place in this world she ended up with a long name: Frances Elizabeth Taylor Hess McCracken Martin. The story of each step in the name is much too complicated to list here, but it is an interesting story indeed.
About 5 years ago Frances' health took a turn for the worse resulting in several stays at Henrico Health & Rehabilitation Center. She was admitted for the final time in August of this year and remained there until her death, with one of her children holding her hand, as she passed into God's loving arms on Thursday, the 5th of December.
Despite the unfortunate circumstances of her childhood, Frances created a life filled with love and laughter. She raised a family that was the center of her world, and loved her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren with all her heart.
She was a true survivor and will be greatly missed by her friends and family.
