Obituary of Frances Matilda Grossnickle

Frances M. Grossnickle died peacefully on August 13, 2020 at the age of 97.  She was born in Willamette, Oregon to Mary and Albert Bernert on November 12, 1922.  She married Robert W. Grossnickle in 1942.  Fran and Bob had seven children: Bob, Jerry, Tim, Doug, Mark, Jane and Dave and many grandchildren, great grandchildren and even a few great-great grandchildren.

Fran lived all her life in Oregon except for brief but eventful periods during the war years in Arizona and Texas, where Bob was trained as a fighter pilot.  Fortunately, World War II ended before he was deployed, but he and Fran came home with vivid stories of plane crashes, life with a newborn baby and black widow spiders, scorpions, and unrelenting desert heat.

As a child Fran learned to play the violin and piano and, along with her sisters Millie and Mary Ann, was a gifted singer.  She delayed learning the cello until she was in her eighties, but played well until her final illness.  Always a good student, she graduated high school at the top of her class, after which she enrolled in nursing school.  Because of the war, her marriage and her burgeoning family, she did not become a nurse, but her training came in quite handy, as her rambunctious boys got into all sorts of scrapes.

Fran was an active member of her church (LDS), sang with the choir, taught Sunday School and seminary classes, and made many good, life-long friendships among the church membership.  She particularly enjoyed giving piano lessons, was an avid fan of genealogical research, could not resist picking and canning fruit (peaches were a favorite), and loved to work with chocolate.  Christmas time meant making many boxes of delicious chocolate-covered truffles and fondants of many flavors for her family and friends.

Family vacations provided some great Mom stories.  Just after a pancake breakfast at Yellowstone Lake, Mom started cleaning up while Dad and the boys went off to go fishing, when a bear came into camp and headed straight for the maple syrup.  Mom grabbed her skillet and chased the critter right out of camp.  Hearing the commotion, Dad and the boys came running back and found Mom calmly washing the dishes.  Asked why she would challenge such a dangerous wild animal, Mom was quite clear that no bear would get her maple syrup.

Matter-of-fact and fearless, Fran was a wonderful woman who loved her family, was generous to friends, and contributed much to the world.  We will miss her.