as of 3.29.2024, not buried next to husband.

Frances Witt Obituary

1917 - 2016

Frances Elizabeth Merchant Witt went home to be with our Lord on July 8, 2016. She was born in Alvin, Texas on August 27, 1917, and was the youngest of nine children. Frances graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in 1934. At the age of eighteen, Fran married Neel Witt, and they had one beloved daughter, Betty, who passed away in 2002. Fran's career as a dental assistant in San Antonio spanned forty years. She was a member of the San Antonio Dental Assistants Association, President of the Texas Dental Assistants Association, and a member of the American Dental Assistants Association.

When she moved to San Antonio as a teenager, she attended Woodlawn Methodist Church and had many happy memories of playing on the girls' softball team and spending summers at the Kerrville Encampment with her friends. She was one of the oldest founding members of University United Methodist Church, in San Antonio, Texas, when it became a mission of Woodlawn Methodist in 1978. A

consistent thread of Christianity ran through Fran's life from the time she was a little girl. She remembered that Sundays were a time for going to church and

spending the rest of the day with family, and she continued that practice all of her life, missing Sunday church services only when she was ill. Her involvement in UUMC was a blessing in her life and she was actively involved in the Special Needs Ministry, Lunch Bunch, the Wesley Sunday School Class, the Views Bible Study

Class, and many others over the years.

Fran's love of people was an attribute that kept her loving life until she died at the age of ninety-eight. She was always surrounded by friends, and in her later years, when she wasn't on the phone talking to them, she was standing in front of her house watching children going to and from school each day and chatting with many of them who lovingly referred to her as "Grandma." Anyone who talked to her for very long picked up on the fact that she was also an avid SPURS fan, and she rarely missed a televised game.

A few years ago, as her health declined, Fran reluctantly moved from her beloved Texas to Orofino, Idaho to be close to her granddaughters, Robin and Terri and other family members. She later lived at Serenity Place in Lewiston, Idaho. Special thanks go to Joy and the caring staff at Serenity Place who took wonderful care of her during her final years.

Frances was preceded in death by her parents, Edmund and Daisy Bell Merchant and her nine siblings, as well as her husband, Neel Witt; daughter, Betty Macklin; and special friend, Col. William Southhard. She is survived by her son-in-law, Mike Macklin of Lenore, Idaho; granddaughter, Robin DeLong and her husband, Dave, of Klamath Falls, Oregon; and granddaughter, Terri Kiele and her husband, Dan, of

Orofino, Idaho. Other survivors include great-granddaughters Morgann Adan, Karlie Flagor, and Emily Olson; great-great grandchildren, Mayson Bohn, Jaxson Reavis, and Adalynne Oatman; and numerous nieces and nephews. Memorial donations may be made to the University United Methodist Church, Special Needs Ministry, 5084 De Zavala, San Antonio, TX 78249; Serenity Place, 1917 17th Ave, Lewiston, ID 83501; or St. Joseph Regional Medical Center Family Hospice, P.O. Box 719, Lewiston, ID 83501. A celebration of Fran's life will be held privately in Idaho.