Frances Alberta Barry

Frances Alberta Barry passed on October 22, 2026, at the age of 103 years. She was born in Detroit, Michigan where she attended the local public schools before moving to California with her family. She was a Navy Wave in WWII and served in Washington DC and in San Diego. Following her discharge from the Navy, she worked at Security Pacific Bank in Los Angeles where she met her husband. Together they raised three children, Nancy Valencia of Walnut Creek, Susan Barry of Claremont and Jim Barry of Baltimore, Maryland. She leaves behind six grandchildren - David Quinn, Kevin Quinn, Rebecca Wolfe, Laurel Valencia, Jake Barry and Julia Barry and five great grandchildren - Maria and Tomas Van Loon, Yuriya and Meiya Quinn and Melodie Modarres.

Frances lived in Lake Tahoe and worked for the Lake Tahoe School District as an Instructional Aide. She was active her entire life and was an early advocate of physical fitness, which she followed faithfully. She swam the lake, hiked the mountains and loved everything in nature that the Tahoe area had to offer. Her mantra until the day she died was “to keep the body moving.”

She later moved to Rossmoor and Walnut Creek where she lived for over 27 years. She enjoyed numerous activities and was in the Tennis Club, a member of the Happy Hackers, played bridge and in later years she learned Mahjong. She belonged to and was past president of the Connections as well as a member of the VEP Companions, Drama Club and the Second Tuesday lunch club. She belonged to three bridge groups. She loved everything that Rossmoor had to offer and thought it was the most wonderful place to live. It was a perfect place to celebrate her 100th birthday at the Creekside Grille with all of her family and friends.

Frances loved her family most of all, and included her friends and the friends of her children into her life, welcoming everyone with open arms and a hug - she was a hugger. She enjoyed the arts (plays, concerts, dance and music) and shared current events and upcoming performance information with those in her circle as she was a voracious reader of the newspaper - everyday she read it from cover to cover. She also read books, and frequented the library for current books that sounded interesting to her. Frances’s love of life and her wonderful spirit was amazing to those who knew her. She will be missed.