SOUTH DARTMOUTH - Francine Gavagan Weeks, 83, a loving mother, grandmother and friend, died peacefully at home on December 28, 2019 surrounded by her adoring family. Fran, affectionately known as Fifi by her family and all of their friends that she warmly welcomed into her life, was born on January 15, 1936 and graduated from the University of Dayton in 1958. She was the widow of Randall T. Weeks.
Fran made an impact on thousands of Dartmouth young people. As a Middle School teacher, she challenged them to think, write and express themselves with precision and courtesy. She was delighted when former students, now grown with families of their own, stopped her to say “hello” and proudly recite their prepositions decades after learning them. In a time before Title IX she created athletic opportunity for girls when she co-founded the Dartmouth Girls’ Little League (DGLL) in 1974, one of the very first organized baseball little leagues for girls in America. Now known as DGAL, Dartmouth girls gained early access to the lessons learned from participating in team sports, developed life long friendships, and experienced a new and unique acceptability for girls to express themselves with grit, confidence and competition on a field of play.
Fran served on the board of directors of The New Bedford Day Nursery for 25 years helping to support opportunities for youth in the Greater New Bedford Area.
After retirement from Dartmouth Middle School, Fran dove into genealogy, researching her Irish roots with a vengeance. She was pen pals with newly discovered distant cousins and with a number of parish priests in Ireland, meeting one or two on an anniversary trip she and Randy took there. This research led her to collaborate with dear friend Ivy Mcmahon and write “Ada,” an article about her grandmother Ada Sullivan, the first woman in America to own a textile mill. “Ada” will be published by the New Bedford Whaling Museum’s Lighting the Way project.
Fifi was an avid reader, enjoyed her weekly visits with best friends and never missed watching a Patriot’s game with her family. She delighted in summertime golf cart rides to the beach with a glass of wine and endless laughter.
Fifi loved anything and everything to do with family. Receiving an unexpected call or visit from a grandchild thrilled her. Keeping up with all of their adventures, academic, athletic, professional, romantic and mundane brought her joy. Despite failing health, Fifi was determined to hold her first great grandchild, Isla, which she did with great strength and absolute love. Fran and her husband Randy had a life-long romance, stretching back to childhood. Their paths diverged until 1961 when Fran moved back to Padanaram. They married in 1962 and lived in love until his death in 2015.
Fran lived with her daughter Nina who loved and cared for her and brightened her life. She is survived by her children Martha Weeks Green of Albuquerque, NM and her husband Joel, Randall T. Weeks Jr of South Dartmouth, Nina Weeks Bullard of South Dartmouth and her partner Mark Lubbers. She adored her grandchildren Thomas Weeks, his wife Kellee and daughter Isla, Lyndsey Weeks, Stephanie Bullard, Kenneth Alan Green II, Alison Weeks, Noah Green and Randall (Trevor) Weeks III, and her sister-by-choice Ivy Mcmahon. She was predeceased by her parents, Thomas J. and Mildred Sullivan Gavagan and by her husband Randall T. Weeks.
Fifi loved, inspired and taught her family, even in her final words, “Love each other and be kind”.
Visiting hours will be Friday from 5:00-8:00 at the Dartmouth Funeral Home. A funeral mass will be held at 10:00 am on Saturday at St. Mary’s Church in S Dartmouth, burial to follow at South Dartmouth Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers please make donations to Hospice at Community Nurses in Fairhaven.
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