Another Plate Taken Away from the Passover Seder. RIP Fran

08/31/2009

Another Plate Taken Away from the Passover Seder
08 31 2009
Jonathan

Sunday evening, after my older brother and I went to a RedSox game, we went out for dinner with my grand parents, my parents, my sister Amanda, a close Temple friend Bobbie and her son Dana.

When everyone was finished with their meal my father said to everyone “I have some disturbing news to share.” (I definitely was not ready for this type of news) “Fran passed away”

Francis Shoehigh has been a close friend of the family for 32 years. She was always there for every Jewish holidays and any major family event along with her partner Punchy. (who passed away 8 years ago.)

Fran was a very caring woman, she would always show up an hour or two before an event or holiday dinner to help my mom with any last minute finishing touches to our extravagant holiday feasts. Maybe it was filling up and putting out the pickies, maybe it was setting up another setting on the dining room table because my dad or someone invited another person to the already over flowing feast, or maybe she was filling up all the 20 or so water glasses before everyone arrived. This was not the end of her help. After every course, she would get up and help take away soup bowls, salad dishes or meal dishes and bring out dessert dishes and assist in poring either tea or coffee for everyone.

She was a short petite woman, who would always want to know what I have been up to and was always proud of my education. I’m not sure why, but I always told her about my current crushes I had when growing up and of course, it was mostly about Lisa. She was always fun to be around and could take and role with jokes that were aimed at her. She was always known to have a glass of wine in her hand when not helping out. So as soon as her wine glass had a few more sips to go, someone would always say “Fran is almost finished with her wine, someone better hide the bottle.” Or for some reason, the bottle of wine was always near her. So someone would say “Fran, stop hogging the wine bottle, it’s not all for you” and things like that and Fran would give a little laugh.

A funny story that I would like to share that is mostly about her partner Punchy, but the end is… well you’ll see.

About 30 years ago, my family took a vacation with Punchy and Fran and my mother’s nephews, Bryan and Brandon. At the time of the story, my cousins were about 10 and 13 years old. Well as the story is told to me, Punchy took a few silver wear from a kitchen cart and handed some to Brandon and Bryan to take as well. Punchy had said to them, to bring it home to your mother, tell her it is a present. (There was an S on each of the forks, spoons and knives for Sheraton Tara (the name of the hotel), their mother’s name is Sarah) Surely Bryan and Brandon knew it was wrong to steal, but they weren’t going to disobey their elder, especially one the size of Punchy. (hinted by the nickname, Punchy was a professional boxer in his days) So every Jewish holiday this story was told or joked about. Well, a few years ago, we had a 40th surprise birthday party for Bryan at our house. Fran was invited and not expecting anything from Fran, Bryan had opened a card from Fran and before opening the present, joked “It is probably something from the Sheraton Tara” Sure enough, a spoon with the letter “S” engraved into it. Everyone burst into laughter.

Fran will be painfully missed at the Jewish holidays.

… In closing: When I was little she would always say this silly rhyme to me that made me laugh.

Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear
Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair
Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn’t a bear, was he?