Frances Anderson

Age 89, of Fridley, MN died peacefully on July 14, 2011. Preceded in death by her husband, John. She will be deeply missed by daughter Laurie Anderson-Holt, sons John and Jim, son-in-law Randy Holt, daughters-in-law Sue and Cindy, grandchildren Britt Anderson, Alexandra Holt, John Holt, Cori Anderson, Sam Anderson, and Sydney Holt, sister Ann Schultz, many family members in MI, and close friends.Frances Yake was born in Ossineke, MI on September 29, 1921 and married John H. Anderson in November 1943, just days before he left to serve in the WWII European Theater. After the war she and John lived in Dearborn Heights MI and then suburban Chicago before settling in Fridley. Fran and her family lost their Fridley home in the tornado of 1963 but remained there cherishing lifelong neighborhood friends. Fran and John were founding members of St. Phillips Church in Fridley, and built Northern Print Ink, a successful ink manufacturing business in Golden Valley remaining involved until retirement. They enjoyed spending their weekends fishing on Clearwater Lake in Annandale. Fran loved to fish, knit, sew, cook, garden, and was active in raising her "perfect" grandchildren.Fran will be remembered as a dedicated and loving wife, mother, grandmother and friend. She lived her life with selflessness, strength, humor, and love.

Eulogy:

Frances Irene Anderson (Died 7/14, Funeral 7/22/11)


Thanks to family and friends for coming today.

Frances was always known as Fran or Fanny to her family and friends. To us kids she was Ma or Mom. Even though she slowed down a bit in her late 70's, she was known to everyone as a force of nature---a ball of energy. My mom was a generous person who almost became more generous and kind with age. She also knew how to lay down the law. We kids knew our limits with Fanny. You towed the line or you might be told you did not have "brain number one" or worse. Not that we did not deserve some punishment for bad behavior. Jimmy had hell to pay after totaling Mom's brand new jeep while she was out of town----in spite of the "skull lacerations" inflicted in the accident. And, I had an Etch-a-Sketch broken over my head during a "disagreement"---unfortunately for Jimmy, the toy belonged to him. We believed that we kept Laurie in perfect standing because we never tattled on her.
Mom was feisty, loving, giving, honest, direct, truthful, and a good friend. We believe that she has joined Dad in heaven and is already working the garden, filling the bait buckets, or preparing great quantities of food for a barbeque with him.
Our family always referred to Michigan as home---as in "we're going home to Michigan". Mom and Dad always thought of the towns of Ossineke and Spruce near the shore of Lake Huron as home. This was the place where they were born and grew up, where they took us to spend our summer vacations, and where they buried their stillborn daughter, parents, brothers and sister. Fran and John are now together in the cremation urn and we will be bringing them "home again" to be buried just off Anderson Road at the Spruce Lutheran Church cemetery. Our daughter Britt wrote a report—a biography--on her grandma in 4th or 5th grade for a school assignment. I would like to read it today and just the way it was written;

On September 29th, 1921 Frances Irene Yake was born in her house in Ossineke, Michigan. Her mother, Fern Yake, was 37 when she gave birth to her and brought her into the world as the 5th eldest child of 6. Frances had 4 older brothers and one younger sister to whom she loved very much and was babied by her brothers. Her brothers were Harry, John, Forest, and Irving. Her sister's name is Ann. She had many relatives but only her Grandpa John Kidder and her aunt Pearle lived near. Her grandpa was a farmer and her aunt used to knit a lot. A certain occasion she remembers vividly about her family is when her brother Johnny hitch-hiked home from the service. Her whole family had a big party with a bonfire. Her mother's name was Fern Yake and her father's name was Walter Yake. Her mother was born in 1884 and her Dad was born in 1882. Fern was a cook in a restaurant and Walter was a worker on a railroad until he lost his leg due to a train running over it. After that he maintained a job painting houses. They lived in a large 5 bedroom, 2-story Victorian house for quite a while, but moved to Nickelson Hills and had a farm. They had to move back quickly after that because of her Grandpa passing away. Frances lived in Ossineke (mostly) until age 18. Her house in Ossineke was in a very woodsy area with a large garden behind the barn. Most of the houses in the area were alike. They lived next to the minister and the church. To the back the house lived a lady by the name of Mrs. Beaver. She would heal Frances and her family's ailments. When ever she got hurt she'd go to Mrs. Beaver and Mrs. Beaver would go into the woods and collect herbs and other various items, steam/boil or cook them and treat/cure Frances' cuts, bruises, or illness. In Frances's childhood she never once saw a doctor but always went to Mrs. Beaver. She used to do a lot of gardening with her father and fished a lot with her siblings. Frances went to the Ossineke School for elementary. The Ossineke School was quite small with about 30 kids, 1 teacher, and 8 grades---1st through 8th. For high school she went to Alpena High School were she bussed in. For high school she played 1st violin in the orchestra and French horn in the marching band. All through school she had many friends and still does. She never went to college, however, at that time almost no women did. Frances's brother Irving was a softball player and her team was playing against another team and on that team was John Harvey Anderson. Frances was at the game and after they got together and that's where they met. They dated for 3 years and planned the wedding and set the date. John was drafted as a parachuter for the army though, so he hitch-hiked home for the wedding and they were married on November 25th, 1943 at a little Methodist church. The church was in Ossineke Michigan and Frances was 22. Frances was now legally Frances Irene Anderson and still is. After he went back to the army and when the war was over he went back home. Frances lived a number of places. She lived in Ossineke until 18, then moved to Detroit until age 36. She lived in Livonia until 37 and then to Minneapolis where she is living now. Her favorite of course was her birthplace Ossineke where she still visits her old house. Madge, her sister-in-law, lives there now. Frances worked in the restaurant her mother was a cook in at the age of 16 for five years. At age 21 she worked for Cadillac Motor Car for 18 years. She was a secretary there. She was involved in the 4H club for about 7 years where they did things like knitting, sewing, planting flowers, and other various activities. She also accompanied her husband sometimes on his business trips. John, her husband, owned a company called Northern Printing Ink that was quite successful and branched all the way out to Nebraska. Frances had 3 children; John Harvey Anderson Jr., Laurie Anne Anderson, and James Jay Anderson. John Jr. was born August 17th, 1949, Laurie was born June 3rd 1963, and James (Jimmy) was born February 12th 1960. Laurie married Randy and became Laurie Anderson Holt. She had Alex, Johnny, and Sydney. Jimmy married Cindy and had Cori and Sammy. John Jr. married Sue and had Brittany Anderson—me. My cousins are Cori, Sammy, Alex, Johnny, and Sydney. My Aunts and uncles are Jimmy & Cindy and Laurie and Randy. My Grandpa is John Sr. and my Grandma is Frances, but everyone calls her Fran or Fanny. My Grandma has been in my life as long as I've been breathing. She's always been really nice to me and she taught me how to treat others with kindness. I love her so much. She is a huge part of me. Everything she has done for me has made me who I am today even more. I have so much respect for her. I could never capture al she has done for me or affected me through one report. She taught me how to knit, crochet, and more that words can describe. I intend to teach my children the same things she's taught me and the same with my grandchildren.
That was written in 1995-1996 by Frances' grand-daughter Britt.
Between the years of 1985 and 1998 Fran was blessed with 6 grand-kids. Britt, Alex, John, Cori, Sam and Syd have many great memories to smile about when they think of Grandma and Grandpa. Here are some of them:
-The cabin on Clearwater Lake, Annandale, with weekends and holidays that included ice-fishing, snow-mobiling, boating, and summer fishing (Fran baited her own hook and anyone else's that needed help)
-The Easter egg hunts on their lawn and in the family room (Fran liked really big chocolate bunnies)
-Christmas pictures in front of Fran's tree before any presents could be opened.
-Tupperware containers of multiple muffin flavors and of course, brownies (hidden but easy to find)
- Laying on the floor in front of the T.V. and watching the "Price is Right" and "Wheel of Fortune" with Grandma--of course we were always smarter than the contestants.
- Picking strawberries with Grandma for her homemade strawberry jam from the strawberry patch in her backyard--while we were eating them out of the bucket almost as fast as she could get them in the bucket.
- Going over to G-ma's every morning before school. She would make us Eggo waffles and homemade muffins while we watched Tom & Jerry together
- Playing cards with Grandma and Grandpa until late at night.

-Cuddling with Grandma during sleepovers.
- Getting to eat as many Rice Krispy bars as we wanted because Grandma said "they were low calorie".
- Fran hiding the Christmas cookies from Grandpa and then whispering to us where they were hidden.
-Approaching storms meant 'head right to the basement'. No storms were taken lightly after the tornado that took the family home in 1965. - Her Polaroid camera with its instant pictures ..…
-Her knitting lessons with needles clicking…….
- Her defining where we were by what shopping mall we were closest too
- Having Grandma teach us how to play piano and always letting us dance in the living room while she played "On top of old Smokey".
-Her great macaroni & cheese, baked in big casserole dishes at most meals….
- We will never see a red sunset or sunrise without thinking of her and hearing her say "Red sky at night sailors delight, red sky in the morning sailors take warning".
Fran's' grandkids will all miss their grandma Fran. They also know she is in a good place now and re-united with grandpa. Days after Fran and John were married in 1943, John took leave for Army training and to serve in as many as 5 battles in the Western European front. Back at home, Fran got a home ready for them, worked at Cadillac, and volunteered time to the assembly of tanks. They were apart almost 2 years until he returned in 1945. Fran and John have been separated 6 years now since his death in spring of 2005. We are glad that they are together again.