Frances M. Gauthier, age 94, beloved ball of fire, (aka “Mimi”) of Ocklawaha, FL passed away peacefully on September 18, 2014 after suffering a stroke earlier in the month. She will be buried in Dallas, TX alongside her husband of 61 years and lifelong soul mate, Raymond H. Gauthier, at 9:30 a.m. on Monday, September 29, 2014 in the Dallas/Fort Worth National Cemetery. A memorial service was held the week prior at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Belleview, FL, near their cherished lakeside home. Frances was born Frances Marian Myers on December 6, 1919 in Blossburg, PA and grew up in Corning, NY. At a towering 5’2” she played guard for the Northside High School basketball team and starred in the school’s operetta, singing and playing piano. During World War II, Frances served as a corporal in the Women’s Army Corps at Camp Crowder, Missouri. Following the war she married Ray and had four daughters. They made homes in Victoria, TX and Charleston, WV, where she earned her BS in Education from Charleston University. For fifteen years she taught English and social studies as a substitute and homebound teacher for George Washington High School in Charleston. Frances loved to entertain and cooked gourmet meals and desserts with the finesse of a seasoned chef. She and Ray retired to Ocklawaha, Florida, and in their retirement, they traveled the world and filled their home with multigenerational family gatherings and joyous memories for all. She loved her husband, her family, neighbors, travel, singing and music, playing cards, shopping (just to shop), clip on earrings, pink nails, lime green, coffee-flavored anything (as long as it wasn’t coffee), the lake, her soap operas, James Michener novels, offering her opinion and eating dessert before dinner.

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Daughter of William Myers and Gladys Sindlinger