Obituary of Ann Dorlese Francis

Ann Dorlese Francis 4/06/1953 to 11/18/2020

 

My sweet Annie passed at St. Joseph Hospital from kidney failure November 18^th. She did want it known that the staff both there and Cottesmore Transitional were exceedingly kind to her. And that she was incredibly grateful to Dr. Smoots and Dr. Pham who took great care of her over the years. 

Annie was born on April 6^th 1953 in Tacoma WA to Audrey Delilah Curry and Richard Arthur Beckman. The photo is of Annie with her mother. Annie had an older brother Richard “Rick” Douglas Beckman and a younger brother Paul E. Brooks. Only Paul survives in VA with his wife Debbie and their two lovely daughters. She very much enjoyed all the photos of the girls and family portraits around the holidays.

As a girl, Annie enjoyed some ballet instruction and competed successfully in school spelling bees and graduated from Foss High School in Tacoma WA. 

She worked for 23 years with Key Bank both as a switchboard operator and as a secretary. With her beautiful red hair and impeccable taste in clothing and jewelry she must of turned many heads. She continued to work a few years even after her health had made it incredibly difficult. 

She was a long-time member of the bipolar support group at T.A.C.I.D. and for a few years she fielded calls from sometimes desperate people suffering from manic-depression and their family members looking for help and resources. And even though she was battling her own issues and was enduring severe neck pain, day and night in those days she helped those people. She was a brave little bunny, let me tell you. I fielded those calls twice  for a week or two while she was in hospital and that one spring was gut wrenching stuff. 

But of course, Annie and her friends also had many joyous bipolar adventures, going to Ocean Shores and floating in inner tubes, plotting the toilet papering of the Narrows Bridge etc. Donna Sass was her dearest female friend for many years, Sharon and her daughter Wendy, Diane and Buzzy Hardman, Ted Baum, Joseph Dreps, Jasester Smith and myself of course Stephen Casey were a huge part of her life. Most have passed on some from suicide, but none forgotten.

 Many such friends received her carefully prepared birthday and holiday cards, with stickers and funny illustrations she collected from magazines and put together with great care with her crafting supplies. I have saved all mine.

There were many cards laying from previous years from others to Annie. From myself, Sylvia Sass, Buzzy, and Paul’s family.

In later years due to mobility problems, she was home almost all the time except for doctor visits. Yet she was always eager to call and encourage friends and family members to help anyone she thought was in need. In the early years I was sometimes pressed into service for people I hadn’t met before. 

She met some genuinely nice people through Catholic Community Services like Sheryl, folks that took her shopping or to doctor visits for years before the Shuttle was the best thing for her. 

Those last 15 years she absolutely loved watching the squirrels leaping about the branches in front of her favored chair. And spent many hours over the years looking over the hummingbird photography and anything else I photographed over a Plex server so she could see them on her big screen. She loved trees and paths but it was the little critters that were her favorites. Like Atom Ant as she called him (a blue dragonfly over lily pads}, and her favorite baby squirrel photo. 

Fortunately, I was able to capture an Anna’s hummingbird and her two chicks, male and female from egg to successful fledglings. Little brother was her favorite. She enjoyed the videos of mother feeding them and of Little Brother matured feeding from my flowers. She got to see his adult vibrant colors while perched on his favorite rain-soaked moss-covered branch, but she preferred the image of him newly fledged hovering with his downy soft feathers on his chubby belly. 

Karen Meloche was a good friend to Annie here in the apartments for many years. Debbie Christy and Lynn Dunn were very sweet. Anastasia Adams was very kind to offer to take care of Annie for a couple weeks if I had to fight Covid-19. Annie was very proud and impressed with Anastasia for getting her citizenship and becoming a nurse. 

I always tried to spoil Annie, but particularly around Christmas. She was frustrated by the laptop so that was passed on to one of the other ladies. But once I got her an 8” tablet she really went to town. She spent hours most days playing with that thing. And she often found interesting things to buy on Amazon or to show me for our morning visit and our nightly funnies - two half hour funnies a night or a movie. She didn’t like the 43” 4K HDR TV because it blocked the view of the squirrels too much so the next year, I got her a 40” 1080p with a lower stand as she often preferred the 720p cable channels for whatever reason and I moved the 43” down to my place. 

One Christmas one of her gifts to me was a Chef’s knife I wanted. After I unboxed it her eyes lit up. She said she had one more gift for me, but I would have to wait till later that night to get it. 

Turned out she took the box my chef’s knife came in and put the little foam sword I used to protect myself from her often bopping me on the head with her orange plastic bat when I misbehaved. She made a great little presentation with my sword seen through the clear window in the chef’s knife box. It is one of my most treasured possessions and remains mounted in my hallway. 

She loved to hear the colorful stories about my rough friends from my misguided youth and the troubles we would get ourselves into. But even more so about the ladies I chased after or chased after me. And the last couple years she became very forgetful, so she got to enjoy the same stories and funnies all over again. 

I made sure she had access to Hulu, Netflix and Amazon Prime and often Spotify and other services like HBO when there was something she wanted to see. And got her a Magnovax DVD burner that was a bit complex but she got the hang of it and recorded almost 200 movies and tv shows. 

Don’t get me wrong she helped me a lot too, we loaned each other money back and forth many times over the years. Indeed, when I was having a series of worsening baby brain strokes it was Annie that convinced me I needed to stop working and get some help. And from the mouth of babes often comes great wisdom. She many times pointed out what should have been obvious to me, but she was the only one to see and care enough to point out the error of my ways. And often had a better slant on something I needed to communicate to one of the other ladies. 

As we get older, familiarity is ever more comforting, so we watched Frasier all the way through three times (eyes roll), Mike and Molly and Monk twice each. She absolutely loved to laugh and even more, she loved to hear me laughing. 

My runs to the stores down the hill for edible treats, silicone toys etc., were a big part of our life. Lots of chocolate, lots of Good and Plenty. And plenty of stuffed toys, Tiger and Tweedy Bird being her favorites. Tweedy is on my sofa as I type this, and there she will stay. Tweedy is a girl, and don’t you forget it! 

The past 10 years or so we had a set of wireless intercoms, two in her apartment and one in mine turned on 24/7. A lot like living with someone. One of us would call out “Time for funnies,” about 7pm.  Often chatting at random times during the day. And sometimes when she knew I was studying, “Stevester whaaat you doooin?” And if she thought I had been staying up too late for my health, around 2 am she would yell over the intercom, “Stevester, Stevester, Stevester!” At least once a year she would forget I had already said good night to her, so that would launch me out of bed in a panic! 

Darwin almighty I will miss that sweet little lady. Her hair up in a banana clip on top of her pretty little head, her cute Winnie the Poo nose, and her warm appreciative hugs. I am privileged to have her as a friend and will never forget her.

In leui of flowers, please consider making a donation to the Salvation Army.