Obituaries – 06-03-2015

Frances Colwell

Frances Colwell, 97, of Bradenton Beach, died May 26.

She was my friend, my neighbor and only now do I realize she was my teacher. Forty plus years ago, when I bought my house on 11th Street South in Bradenton Beach, the neighborhood consisted of residents who actually lived here, including Frances. But how does a newbie introduce himself?

Well a woman peddling her three-wheeler down the road solved that problem quiet easily. After introducing herself, she grabbed my hand and said, “Come with me. I want all my neighbors to meet you.”

That’s how I came to know Jack, Bertha, Ann Zito, Mrs. White, Old Bell, Mrs. McCartney, Bobby and a Kentucky lawyer who lived here six months each year. All were my senior. A validation from Frances was good enough for them.

Frances was born Sept. 10,1917, in Palmetto, and attended Palmetto High. The oldest of seven children, she grew up in a family where music was an important part of their life. Her brother Bobby played the slide trombone and saxophone and became a music teacher. They remained close throughout their lives and he would visit her almost every year all the way from Nebraska.

After high school, Frances joined a band in Gainesville that evolved into the Dean Hudson Band of the Big Band era. She was their lead singer for 17 years, traveling across the country. A picture of her back then still adorned her piano. Boy, was she a looker.

Later, she sang and played piano in lounges and she often played where top entertainers were performing. Harry James and Willie Nelson were two of her acquaintances.

In the late 1930s, she sang on a live audience radio show Wednesday evenings that was sponsored by Lancers crackers. Every Tuesday the sponsor would call her to see what she would be wearing the following night and they would send over a corsage to match her outfit.

During WWII there were gas shortages. The band traveled by bus, mostly on rented Blue Bird Busses. For a time, because of the shortage, the band members were flown by the military on a C47 aircraft to play for the enlisted men and then for the officers club.

When Frances retired from her singing career in 1974, she came to live and care for her mother, who lived in Bradenton Beach, where Francis would live out her life, except for her last year.

Still in love with music, she enjoyed the Jazz Club in Sarasota and would host music parties at her home. She also sang in the choir at the Island Church on Longboat Key. She said that she could play more than 4,000 songs on the piano from memory, which she often demonstrated for any neighbor or friend with a mind to listen. Even arthritus scarcely put a damper on her talent.

In later years she would host a “Name That Tune” game for her neighbors on New Year’s Eve.

Frances was a beautiful person, always with a smile. She loved her life. Even in her 90s, you would see her riding her three-wheel bike, with the surrey on top, along the beach trail, feeding the squirrels. She never missed an Anna Maria Island parade, having the best front row seat on her doorstep, flag flying.

On her 93rd birthday, she went up in a parasail ride with her neighbors cheering her on.

This kind-hearted woman cared for her aging friends by bringing them flowers and driving them to the doctor in her big old Cadillac. She played piano for local rest homes and volunteered at a local thrift shop.

She was an icon of the neighborhood.

Everyone knew Frances and Suzy, her companion cat of 24 years.

I never saw her angry, not even once.

The last time I saw Frances was a week before she died. She had spent five weeks in a bed after leaving the hospital. After checking with her family and hospice care, I ask her if she would like to get outside and go for a wheelchair ride and see the sky. Thirty minutes later, we were wheeling through nearby Fogertyville Cemetery.

She was smiling and talking up a storm.

I almost put off that trek off for a week, so glad I didn’t.

Frances’ indomitable spirit will be missed and remembered by a family of nieces, nephews, cousins and friends who enjoyed her company, stories, laughter and card playing. She was lucid and quick-witted until the end.

She requested to be cremated and her ashes placed in the old Palmetto Cemetery, perhaps mixed in a cement bench for people to sit on when visiting.

I will miss my friend; we were the last two originals on 11th Street, now there is only me.

Fortunately, the new owner of her house is her great-niece, who is cut from the same fabric as Francis, as are her sister and their mother. Good linage makes for good neighbors.

Wherever you are Frances, dance your fingers across those pearly keys and sing an oldie for me.

Kenneth Arnold Hansen

      Kenneth Arnold Hansen, of Holmes Beach and formerly of Charlotte, died May 21.

Mr. Hansen was born Oct. 16, 1935, in Manistee, Michigan, to Arnold George and Norma Harriette Anderson Hansen. He was a Michigan judge, serving on the bench from 1968 to 1996, who retired to his paradise of Anna Maria Island. He married Janet Kay Garlinger.

He was a member of the Michigan Bar Association, Michigan State University Alumni Association, Wayne State University Law School Alumni Association and the Michigan District Judges Association.

A service was May 27 at the Episcopal Church of the Annunciation in Holmes Beach. Griffith-Cline Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements. Memorial Donations may be made to the Arthritis Foundation or the American Red Cross.

He is survived by son Eric M., former daughter-in-law Lori Nitschke and grandson Christian, of New York City; daughter Katherine Hansen Downing, husband J. Calvin Downing and grandchildren Alexander Hansen Downing and Rachel Elizabeth Downing, all of Overland Park, Kansas.

Reidy

Timothy Patrick Reidy

Timothy Patrick Reidy, 61, of Bradenton, died May 8.

He was born in Ballon, Ireland. He came to Manatee County with his wife Jacinta from Carlow, Ireland, in 1992.

He worked for Hurricane Hank’s Liquors.

Services were private. Online condolences may be made at www.shannonfuneralhomes.com. Arrangements were by Shannon Funeral Home.

Survivors include son Joseph of Eureka Springs, Arkansas; daughters Blair and Leah, both of Bradenton; brother Jimmy and sister Elizabeth of Carlow, Ireland, and brother Denis, of Adelaide, Australia.