Frances Catherine Everidge

Frances Catherine Everidge died on September 29, 2021, in San Antonio, Texas at the age of 96. Frances (Fran) was the daughter of Rev William Henry Wallace and Gertrude Ethel Wallace of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. She was born in Dallas in 1925 where her father was the pastor of the First Methodist Church. Fran had three older brothers: Bill, Bob and Jack and a younger sister, Linda. Fran was the last surviving member of her family. Her formative years were spent in New Orleans, but the family moved where the church needed them, eventually landing in Oklahoma City when her father became Pastor of St. Lukes Methodist Church.

In 1945 Fran met William Edgar Everidge Jr. (USMC Res Capt.)(Ed) of Antlers, Oklahoma who had enlisted in the Marines after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Fran and Ed were married in 1946, and after the war, they settled in Oklahoma. They had six children over the next eleven years: William Edgar III, Cathy Sue, Joe Frederick, Michael Wallace, Susan Kay, and Donald Dean. Tragedy struck the young couple early on when their oldest daughter, Cathy Sue, died when she was just two years old. Fran and Ed raised their remaining five children using strong family values, strict discipline, and mutual respect. The family moved to Alamo Heights in 1965 when Ed got a job as a government insurance agent with Kelly Air Force Base. They joined Alamo Heights Methodist Church, and immediately became active. Fran joined the choir and they both led religious education groups. Fran began teaching High School English at Churchill High School later that year, and her students loved her. Many look back fondly on memories of her teaching and remained in her close contact until her death.

Tragedy struck the family again in 1968 when Ed was diagnosed with lung cancer. After a year-long battle with the disease, Ed Everidge died on January 2, 1969. At the time of Eds death, their children ranged in age from ten to twenty-one. John Wesley once said, "do all the good you can, in all the ways you can, to all the souls you can, in every place you can, at all the times you can, with all the zeal you can, as long as ever you can." Fran embraced this philosophy and poured herself into life after the death of her husband. In the years that followed, as the primary breadwinner, she became a nationally recognized master teacher, the English Department Chair at Churchill HS, and The English Language Arts Consultant for NEISD. She obtained her masters degree and earned thirty hours of post-graduate credit in the process. As a consultant she conducted dynamic teacher workshops and realigned the curriculum using the teachers feedback so that they embraced the same teaching philosophies that were so successful for Fran at Churchill. When Fran Everidge retired from NEISD she had left a legacy in teaching language arts that remains to this day. She was 75 years old. Fran had four passions that guided the remainder of her life: her love of God, her love of family, her love of teaching, and her love of singing.

Fran was a singer for her entire life. In 1928, when she was just two and a half years old, she sang on the radio in Dallas for a church service her father was broadcasting. In 1941, when she was a 16-year-old freshman at Southwestern University, she sang the alto solos for The Messiah. She was also in a swing quartet during college called "The Four Little Moods" who had a radio show in Austin and sang for USO shows at Temple, Ft Hood and Corpus Christi. She sang with the Master Singers for twenty-eight years and performed at Carnegie Hall (twice) and the Lincoln Center as well as numerous performances with the San Antonio Symphony. Fran most enjoyed singing to glorify God, and although she was a choir director and a soloist, her favorite place to sing was as a member of her Alamo Heights church choir who all became extended family members. She saw her voice as a gift entrusted to her to develop and share.

Fran Everidge built a life full of family love, rewarding work experiences and performances with gifted singers. She is survived by her children: Cathy Everidge of Houston, Joe and Sandy Everidge of Stockbridge, GA, Michael Everidge of Dallas, Susan Varner of Richardson, and Don and Linda Everidge of San Antonio. She has eleven grandchildren, sixteen great-grandchildren and three great-great grandchildren, and as the number of her progeny continues to grow so does her legacy of hard work, patience and kindness. Her light and her wisdom will be greatly missed by all of us who knew and loved her. Fran died in the middle of the night during a thunderstorm. At the time of her death, a brilliant light show from the heavens lit up the night sky as sheets of pelting rain and strong winds left many areas of San Antonio in darkness.

Like her life, her exit was spectacular.

MEMORIAL SERVICE

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2021

9:30 A.M.

ALAMO HEIGHTS UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

Interment will follow at Ft. Sam Houston National Cemetery.