Frances Talbot

WALNUT — Frances Talbot, 93, died Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2019, at the Van Buren County Hospital in Keosauqua, Iowa.

Frances had moved to Keosauqua, Iowa, in October of 2016. She became an Iowan when she was no longer able to care for her own home in Walnut. She had lived her adult life in Walnut as a mother, homemaker and farmwife.

Frances was born in LaSalle on Feb. 4, 1926, to Frank and Antonette Conley. Her mother died when Frances was 13, and she soon found herself being raised by three older sisters, Mary, Betty and Anita. She left school at 15 and began working as a telephone switchboard operator for Illinois Bell.

At 16, Frances met Robert Talbot at a birthday party arranged by her sister, Anita. War came and Frances and Robert corresponded as he served in the Philippines. When he came home, they were married on Aug. 31, 1946.

His dream had been to become a farmer, hers not quite the same, but she was open to challenge and for the next 57 years they farmed just outside of Walnut. She and Bob were longtime 4-H leaders; she was active in her church, St. John’s Catholic Church, and in the Altar and Rosary Society. She worked with her friend, Phyllis Johnson, as a caterer. She and Bob were also honored as the Chamber of Commerce Outstanding Citizens. She won several, but never enough, pie contests and their home was home to countless Border collies.

Frances loved to travel. She and her sister, Anita, traveled to Ireland as the “Connolly sisters” (name changed when her family moved to America). She also traveled with most of the family to Disney World in her 80s and was the first awake in the morning ready to go to the Magic Kingdom. Other travels took her on cruises to Alaska and Canada.

Robert died in July of 2003 and Frances began another chapter of her life, buying and caring for a cozy brick ranch-styled house in Walnut. She was able to care for it and enjoy her friends and neighbors there for the next 13 years. She moved to the Keosauqua Health Care Center in 2016, but Walnut always remained her home.

Frances was mother to three girls, Kathleen (David) Paulek, Helen (Jay) Hodge and Rose (Lynn) Fisher. She has seven grandchildren, Mark (Jeanne) Paulek, Adam (Anne Tyler) Paulek, Megan (Tim) Kunz, Kelly (Jim) Perfield, Gabriel (Sharon) Smith, Matthew (Robin) Fisher and Laura (Ryan) Bruni; and eight great-grandchildren, Olivia Paulek, Elliott Paulek, Curtis Kunz, Leo Kunz, Wyatt Perfield, Dylan Smith, Ethan Fisher and Colton Fisher. She became an Iowa grandmother to her caregiver, Cecilia Novoa, at the Keosauqua Health Care Center.

A rosary will be recited at 4:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 30, at the Garland Funeral Home in Walnut, followed by visitation from 5 to 7 p.m. A funeral Mass will be at 10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 31, in St. John’s Catholic Church in Walnut. Burial will follow at the Walnut Cemetery in Walnut.

Memorials may be made to St. John’s Catholic Church in Walnut.

The Pedrick Funeral Home in Keosauqua, Iowa, and the Garland Funeral Home in Walnut are in charge of arrangements.