Frances Melvina Hollander (nee Pack)

Frances Melvina Hollander (nee Pack) was born in St. John’s in 1922. She was delivered at home by Nurse Grimes. As a baby, her mother entered her into a beautiful baby contest, which she won.

Frances died on February 13 , 2024 at the age of 101 years, and 4 1/2 months. She was the eldest of 5 children, and had two brothers and two sisters.

Frances began her schooling at St. Mary’s School , which was originally in a warehouse, before the school was built. At that school, she was contradicted by another student about the origin of babies. My mother said the stork brought them. Her classmate disagreed with her, and she knocked my mother over her head with a rum bottle full of milk.

In grade 7 Frances began attending Bishop Spencer School for girls, a school which she thoroughly enjoyed. She was good friends with a fellow classmate, Helen Parsons. She and Helen would visit each other’s homes after school. Frances won first prize in landscape painting, and Helen won first prize in portrait painting. The artwork was sent to England to be judged.

Frances was made a prefect by Miss Cherington, the head mistress, of whom she thought highly. One of Frances’s favourite subjects was classical dance. One of the dances was the story of Ulysses, a tale in which the dancers had to entice the ships to crash on the shore.

World War II brought many changes to life in St. John’s. Miss Cherrington told the students that they must be careful and must always behave as Spencer girls. The harbour would be packed with ships one day, and then next day they would be gone. St. John’s was under a blackout order. Frances’s brother, Bert, was a warden at that time, whose job was to check that the blackout was being observed.

After completing high school, Frances studied one year of commercial. Upon graduation she got a job of the Department of Education, for the Anglican school board, working under Mr. Sampson.

Mom was 19 when she and a friend went to The Blue Puttee, a restaurant in St. John’s. An American soldier approached her table. He was stationed in Gander with the Army Air Corps, and he was waiting to fly to England to be part of the air submarine patrol. He asked mom her name, Mom gave a false name of Peggy. Afterwards her friend gave dad mom’s real name. He ended up walking her home. They had two dates. He asked her to marry him, and mailed an engagement ring. She wrote him a letter every day. He told her that he had a scholarship to Notre Dame University, and that he planned to enroll in university after the war.

When dad returned to the U.S., mom travelled there to be married. Her journey was fraught with adventures, travelling by ship, accompanied by corvettes for protection against the enemy ships, travelling by train, including a troop train. At one point she was exhausted, and a fellow passenger’s mother invited her to stay one night for a proper rest. Mom’s Auntie Sue and Uncle Phil met mom at the train in Niagara Falls. Mom bought a suit for the wedding, and she and dad were married by a lake by a justice of the peace.

After the wedding, they travelled to Holyoke, Massachusetts, where they lived for 6 months in the home of an architect and his wife. The architect had a whole room devoted to Native Americans artifacts.

After a short time in Holyoke, dad was sent to Nebraska to teach radar to airmen. Mom went to dad’s parents’ home in Indiana.

Dad was then sent to the base in Tampa, Florida where their first daughter was born. After mustering out of the military, dad enrolled in Evansville University, attending year round, working at odd jobs such as mowing lawns and working at the canteen. His second daughter was born on his first day of university.

His first job after he obtained his degree was working at the school for the deaf in Flint Michigan. Both mom and dad learned sign language.

Dad taught in many schools. Mom attended night classes in art, and joined art groups. At one point, she did the mechanical drawings for a student pipe fitter.

Eventually dad and mom moved to Newfoundland. Dad taught at St. Patrick’s in St. John’s. Pepperrel Air Force Base, and Harmon Air Force Base, with his last job being with the Catholic School Board in Corner Brook. While living in Stephenville , he went back to university in the States to obtain his master’s degree.

Mom went to art school for a year in Corner Brook. She studied pottery under a master German potter, who became her very good friend. She told us that she always loved making mud pies as a little girl. She got top marks in pottery school, receiving a 98 as her final Chemistry mark. Mom had an exhibition of her work along with Mary Pratt and other artists at the University of Toronto. It was arranged by David Blackwood, who said mom was excellent in design, and who encouraged her to sell her work in New York City. She chose, however, to sell her work locally at Nonia in St. John’s.

Before mom went to pottery school, her two daughters enrolled in the School of Nursing at St. Clare’s. After graduating, the eldest daughter enrolled in music school and obtained her A.R.C.T. and taught piano. The youngest daughter enrolled in the Nova Scotia School of Art and Design and sold her paintings at various galleries. Both daughters had that same interest in the arts that their mother and father had. Their dad had many talents in designing wood.

When dad died in 1980, she missed him terribly, but she did not sit around and mope. She mowed the lawn until she was 85. She put a wooden floor in her greenhouse, built a stone wall going up the driveway, and made drapes and slipcovers. She was frequently in the greenhouse in her nightgown watering the plants and afterward sitting on the sunny back deck. Only the birds and bees saw her soaking up the sun. Mom loved her house and many friends, whom she loved to entertain at dinners. She loved to discuss politics, art, and science. She loved chatting with people from all over the world. On Sundays she would play classical records on dad’s Grundig stereo. Friends and family were all important to her. She kept up with her relatives, from Champney’s West to Michigan, Indiana, and California.

Frances leaves behind 4 grandchildren and their spouses, 11 great grandchildren, all of whom she was very proud.

There are many people to thank. A special thank you to her lovely sister, Elizabeth who faithfully visited her and brought her treats. Thanks to Chris and Sherry who brought her many a coffee, Joshua, Debbie and Geoff, Alice, Debbie and Gary, and Ruth. Many many thanks to the people at St. Patrick’s Mercy Home. The staff of the first floor, Pam and staff of the recreation department , Deborah and staff of the music department, Deborah and staff of the physio department, the staff of the occupational therapy department. All the volunteers at The Red Rose Cafe, the outside volunteers, the cleaning staff, Myra, the fabulous hairdresser, the social worker and resident care manager, and Monica. All these people worked to make mom’s life more pleasant.

As mom used to say before we bundled up all the grandchildren in her car to go and have a Gros Morse picnic, even though it was foggy in Little Rapids, “The weather looks good up the coast”. She was always correct.

For those who wish to make a donation in mom’s name can send them to the Bowering Park Foundation.