On August 23, 2015, at our home in Halfmoon Bay, the Goddess gently came in the wee hours for my Frances. I take comfort in knowing she is at peace and hanging out with our “dog of love” sweet Sasha.
She is my light, my soul mate, my best friend, and I miss her deeply.
I want to thank our community of friends for everything they have done over the past few years, all those many acts of kindness and generosity which made it possible for Frances to be home with me during her last few months.
It took a true ‘tribal effort’ to pull this off.
Frances knew about and felt all your love and support surrounding her.
How do you sum up a life lived, as Frances lived it?
Put her name in Google and you come up with a lifetime of achievements.
Our friend Morgan Brayton summed up the essence of Frances’ life lived, in these loving words: “There are many more Frances stories I could tell in which, over the past couple of decades, she taught me about things like organizational management, marriage, immigration, bookkeeping and the fight for abortion rights in Canada. But it was the way she lived, how big she loved, how hard she laughed, how bravely she fought, and, most of all, how committed she was to mentoring the likes of me, for which I am forever indebted to her. I am not the only one who has Frances stories to tell. I know so many people who can trace back pieces of ourselves that we love directly to Frances. She didn’t create those pieces, but she held us up so we could figure out how to use them. She looked us in the eye and expected us to figure them out. Her mouth turned up at the corner in a smile or her cheeks ruddied with laughter and she encouraged us to step into everything we were worth. Sometimes she instructed us directly, sometimes she led by example, but always, she cleared the way. If we can be half the people she taught us to be, we too will be nothing short of Amazons.”
https://morganbrayton.wordpress.com/2015/08/25/thank-you-frances/
Through her decades as a proud feminist, social activist, arts community leader, and educator, Frances was a champion, mentor and inspiration for many generations of LGBTQ and cultural community leaders in Vancouver and beyond. She walked the talk, never backing down or being silent in the face of injustice. To put it mildly, she was one very extraordinary womyn.
Frances lives on in her wife of 18 years, Marguerite Kotwitz; sister Mary Beth Emmerichs (Jack); and countless other loving family members, friends, students, coworkers, festival pals, and admirers.
Rock on Luv, rock on.
A Gathering of Friends will be announced at a later date.