Frances F. Marks' Obituary
Frances Fraser Marks was born on July 7, 1916, in Memphis, Tennessee and died on November 28, 2013. She attended Peabody Elementary and Snowden Junior High Schools and graduated from Central High in 1934. That fall she entered Blue Mountain College, where she participated in many musical and theatrical performances and was President of Student Government. She graduated with a B.A. in English and Latin in 1938. After teaching English in Drew, Mississippi, for a year, she served as Assistant Dean of Students at Blue Mountain, and then joined the Church Library Department of the Southern Baptist Sunday School Board in 1942, continuing to write articles for their publications for many years. She earned an M.A. in English at George Peabody College in Nashville. She returned to Memphis and married Louis Denton Marks in 1943. Their daughter, Linda, was born on October 8, 1945, and their second child, Louis Jr., was born on September 10, 1949. Louis Sr, beloved husband and father, died in 1951 of leukemia. Mrs. Marks taught Latin at Miss Hutchison’s School from 1954 to 1963. In 1963 she joined the faculty at East High School , where she taught Latin and later a became a guidance counselor. She returned to Hutchison in 1972, first teaching Latin and later serving as Head of the Upper School. She retired from Hutchison in 1986 but continued to teach many students in English as a Second Language programs and to tutor Latin. Frances was a dedicated and gifted teacher who loved teaching and her students. She was a fierce competitor at the Mid-South Latin Tournament, and many of her students at both Hutchison and East won highest honors there over the years. Many went on to become teachers themselves at schools around the South and around the world. She was deeply dedicated to her faith and her church and showed her passion for teaching there as well. She and Louis attended Bellevue Baptist Church at its old North Bellevue location where she taught Sunday School, sang in the choir, and was the alto in the Bellevue Women’s Quartet. The family joined First Baptist Church in 1961, where she continued teaching well into her eighties. She was also one of First Baptist’s first women Deacons . She leaves her two children, Linda Marks of Memphis and Denton Marks of Milwaukee, Wisconsin; her daughter-in-law Tessa; nieces Marlena Marks Grunewald of Little Rock, Arkansas, and Judy Marks Brown of Fort Smith, Arkansas. Linda, Denton, and Tessa are deeply grateful for the loving and compassionate service of those who cared for her. Vistiation will be 5-7 p.m., Tuesday, December 3 at Memorial Park Funeral Home and Cemetery. Funeral services will be 2 p.m., Wednesday, December 4 at First Baptist Church of Memphis. Graveside services will be 10 a.m., Thursday, December 5 at Forest Hill Midtown Cemetery. The family requests that any memorials be sent to First Baptist Church of Memphis or the Metropolitan Inter-Faith Association (MIFA). Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to Memorial Park Funeral Home and Cemetery, 5668 Poplar Ave. Memphis, TN 38119, (901)767-8930, “Behind the Stone Wall”.
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