In Memoriam: FANHS Trustee Emerita Frances "Fran" Alayu Womack

Frances “Fran” Alayu Womack, long-time member of the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS) passed away on September 7, 2014, at the age of 83. A resident of Chicago, Fran was a FANHS Trustee Emerita, FANHS National Past Treasurer, and FANHS Midwest Chapter Past President (1994-1996), Treasurer, and Secretary. Fran received the FANHS Lifetime Leadership Award at the 2012 FANHS National Conference in New Mexico.“Fran and her sisters, Ethel and Terry, came to our second national FANHS conference in New Orleans in 1988 and that is how we met. Over the years, Fran and Terry would come to Seattle and volunteer in our National Pinoy Archives,” said FANHS Founder and Executive Director Dorothy Laigo Cordova. “When I asked Fran to be on a panel of women for the FANHS Conference this past July, she told me she felt it was going to be her last conference. She made it to San Diego in her walker and spoke on not just one, but two different panels! Fran was viable and active to the very end.”FANHS National Trustee Emily Lawsin said, “By the end of the conference, she told many of us that she hoped to make it to New York City for the next FANHS Conference in 2016.”“With her goes a lot of the history of Filipino Americans in Chicago,” Cordova said.FANHS would like to express our deepest condolences to Fran’s family. Funeral services will be held on Thursday, September 11th from 4:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. at the Curley Funeral Home, 6116 W. 111th Street, Chicago Ridge, IL 60415. Please click on this link [connect to link below] to post remembrances or to find out more information.http://legacy.suntimes.com/obituaries/chicagosuntimes/obituary.aspx?n=frances-alayu-womack-fran&pid=172412108&