Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s
Aunt Mary RIP ✞
This past week, my 94 year old aunt Mary, former Russia First Lady, passed away from natural causes. She also was the great aunt of my wife, so we both have very special memories of aunt Mary, her deceased husband, long-time Russia Mayor Leo (aka Legs) Francis and their five children who were all about the same ages as our family. Click
here for her obituary. For a live stream link to her funeral on Tuesday (today) at 10:30am, click
this link. In aunt Mary’s memory, the excerpts from several previous blogposts that mentioned aunt Mary are replicated below:
Nov, 2019
On Veteran’s Day, my 93 year-old aunt Mary gave an organ recital at
the Landings, a senior living facility in Sidney. Watch her play this famous Marine hymn,
From the Halls of Montezuma, in honor of her late husband, Leo, aka Legs Francis, who served in the Marine Corps during WWII. Impressive how she can still play the organ so well and also remember the significance of the song at the end when asked by her daughter, Glo.
Vintage photos of Aunt Mary:
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| Aunt Mary in 1928 |
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| Here's aunt Mary on the left with her sister Ruth and their musical instruments in 1946 |
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| Mary & Legs 1947 wedding photo |
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| Aunt Mary in 1963 |
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| Christmas 1988 photo with three of their grandkids. Legs unfortunately passed away 7 years later at age 75. |
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| 2016 photo of Aunt Mary and with all her descendants |
July, 2016 Blogpost:
There’s a story about the two youngest brothers, Tom and my uncle Leo, who married my dad’s sister Mary. My favorite part of the story is where the brothers flipped a coin during tough times to determine who kept
Francis Mfg. the joint family business they had started. My uncle Leo lost so he was left to start up another, Francis Products, making garage doors, a very successful enterprise pictured below before being sold to
Clopay Corporation in 1969.
Sept. 2016
My uncle's company not only made garage doors, but also sold automatic garage door openers, a device that was new to me since our garage on the farm didn’t even have a door! Uncle Leo and aunt Mary had one installed on their garage attached to the house, so I’d play with the remote and watch the door go up and down with just the press of a button. I would test the range of the remote, moving farther and farther way from the door and at different angles until it wouldn’t activate. Then I would open and shut the door from inside to observe the mechanism lift then close the door. And of course, I’d open up the remote to check out its inner workings. Amazing stuff for a budding engineer.
Not a block away from their house was the railroad tracks, and at the sound of a train approaching, I’d run down to the tracks arriving just as the beast sped past shaking the ground and causing a wind rush that almost knocked me over. What a thrill!
Aunt Mary lived a long and fulfilling life, bringing joy to so many friends and family. Even at an advanced age, believe it or not, she was known around Rooshee and their cottage at Indian Lake for her ability to do cartwheels and water ski!
Also aunt Mary had a unique and infectious laugh, that she obviously picked up from her 5 sisters, as I can vividly recall at family gatherings how much laughter emanated from all my aunts during those frequent get-togethers.
Anybody surviving the Great Depression, World War II and the premature death of her husband who can laugh the way she did has my everlasting admiration and appreciation. Aunt Mary was indeed one of a kind, and so was her husband Mayor Legs, both now together again for eternity..
Rest in peace, aunt Mary.
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