Frances Towner

FRANCES CAROLINE (WALLEN) TOWNER

Frances Caroline (Wallen) Towner, 97-years-old, of Seminole, Florida, passed away on May 8, 2025, having lived a strong, healthy, long life.

Fran was born in Farmer City, Illinois on March 7, 1928. She grew up in a loving household where she and her family lived, at times, on her aunt and uncle’s McKinley farm. She helped her McKinley cousins with chores and livestock, experiencing all the joy that comes with the freedom of being a child in a rambling farmhouse with acres of land to roam. In the summers, her father, Thomas, her mother, Theresa, and her brother Tommy packed the car and hit the road, seeing everything there was to see – especially in the west. She lived in South Carolina and Louisiana – in Illinois and Missouri. Settling in St. Joseph, Missouri for her teen years, Fran worked as a soda jerk across the street from her house, graduating from St. Joseph Central High School and entering St. Joseph junior college. She earned her AA in art studies.

Fueled by an indelible spirit, positive outlook on life, strength and determination, Fran decided to move to Denver, Colorado after college to work and live independently. Although it was 1948 and independent women were a rarity, she moved into the YWCA and then to a boarding house, securing a job at Russell Stover Candies because “life is an adventure.” Her love of chocolate, which endured until the end of her days, began in that Denver confectionery candy factory where she worked as a quality control employee. During that wonderful time, she made steadfast friends who decided to combine their meager resources, patch up an old car, and drive to Dallas, Texas where jobs were booming and salaries were higher.

In Dallas, Fran’s artistic skills and clear and elegant printing earned her a job with an architectural firm as a scribe that hand-lettered architectural plans and documents. After a few years there, Fran met Robert (Bob) Towner and married him on September 6, 1952. A year later, Fran had her first child, Linda Lou. Shortly after, Bob was transferred to Connecticut, where she had her second child, Sheryl Lynn, and then her third child, Robert Lee Junior.

From Connecticut, Fran and family moved to Bob Sr.’s hometown, Mt. Lebanon, PA and settled into a house on the same street Bob lived on as a child. With Linda, Sherry and Bob Jr. at school and Bob Sr. working on the road as a salesman, Fran obtained a job down the street at Mt. Lebanon’s upscale department store, Kaufmann’s. Her warm, inviting, and kind personality was a perfect match for hospitality, and she spent most of her 20 Mt. Lebanon years as a hostess in Kaufmann’s beautiful and popular Tic-Toc restaurant.

Fran devoted herself to her family. Growing up in Fran’s household meant home cooked meals, traditional family games, buttered popcorn, picnics, summer vacations, being a girl scout leader, having taffy pulls, helping with art projects, driving her children around in an old beat-up car she named Betsy, and taking them on adventures like she had. There were summers at Cape Cod, family reunions in the Midwest, train trips to New York City, ice skating, sledding, and every night together around the dinner table without fail, in unison praying: “God is great, God is good, let us thank Him for our food, by his hand we must be fed, give us Lord our daily bread.” It meant nights tucked-into bed before saying prayers that began with: “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.”

She brought up her three children with bible stories from the family heritage storybook bible with faith, conviction in the word of God and unconditional love. She practiced her beliefs in thought and deed, which is why she is so loved. She is and always has been a tremendous testimony to kindness and integrity.

All her children married and had their own children, and stepchildren, and those children had children. Fran was a grandmother to Linda and Mike Miragliotta’s children: Jon and Amy; to Sherry and Jay Becker’s five children: Jaclyn, Stephanie, Courtney, Christopher and Robert; and Bob and Patti’s children: Tina and Robin. She was a great-grandmother to Linda and Mike’s grandchildren: Sofia, Luna, Bryce, Taylor and Cody; to Sherry and Jay’s grandchildren: Makenzie, Winter, Henry, Jason, and Maria; and to Bob and Patti’s grandchildren: Kelsey, Brooke, Austin, Reagan and Lexi.

She was truly one-of-a-kind in every respect, encouraging and inspiring every generation. She will be greatly missed by all who were blessed to know her.

Fran is preceded in death by Robert L. Towner.

Family and friends will gather from 9:00 am to 11:00 a.m., Friday, May 16, 2025, WILLIAM SLATER II FUNERAL SERVICE, 1650 Greentree Rd., Scott Twp., 15220, (412-563-2800), Funeral Service 11:00 a.m. Friday. Pastor Mark Moder, of the Berean (Fellowship) Church, Pittsburgh, PA, will officiate the service accompanied by his wife Pastor Stephanie Moder. The burial will immediately follow at the Mt. Lebanon Cemetery in Mt. Lebanon, PA.

In lieu of flowers, a memorial tree can be planted in memory of Frances C. Towner by visiting the following site: shop.alivingtribute.org