Frances Adeline  FOOTE

When Frances Adeline Foote was born on October 28, 1929, in Cook, Illinois, her father, Robert, was 22, and her mother, Laura, was 24.

She remembered ice skating on the Chicago River when a child. She had a Shirley Temple Doll and a bear which her brother shaved the nose on it. After graduation from Proviso High School she went to Millikin University in Decatur, IL. She pledged the Zeta Tau Alpha Sorority and studied for a degree to become a Clothing Buyer. She had worked in a clothing store as a sales person during high school and loved the work.

She married John Robert or J.R. Burgett on August 20, 1949, at a Presbyterian Church in Maywood, Illinois. He farmed the family farm at Latham, IL with his father and brother at the time. They had two children during their marriage; Mary Virgnia July 30, 1950, and Robert Daniel, February 9, 1953. Frances was a stay-at-home mom. She was a room mother for her children at school. She was a wonderful Girl Scout leader when Mary was of Girl Scout age. Bobby also participated in cub scouts. She prepared great meals for dinner each night. Children favorite was her deep fried chicken, mash potatoes and her gravy was delicious. She was known for her Christmas cookies and people wanted recipes. She liked to cook and bake for her family and friends. She always saw that homework was done, baths, and children tucked in at night. In April of 1966 the family moved from the little house on the north side of the farm to the newly built yellow brick ranch built on the acreage owned by Robert and Harold.

She was always very goal oriented and trying to get one more task done. The result was she was never on time to pick her children up from after school activities. A cause for children frustration before they could drive themselves. The children had a car to drive to school when teens. It was her car, a Mustang convertible. It was sold to Uncle Fred after Bob totaled it. The family never had two cars until after the children turned sixteen. The family did have a car and truck though with Dad being a farmer. The children had a good childhood with caring parents.

Frances and Robert had many wonderful friends which the whole family loved. The Marchs and Kuhns families and an extended group of friends and family were the closest when the children were growing up. This group was like family. Then in the early 1970's they became boaters, and part of the Latham Boating Club who boated the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers as well as Lake Shelbyville once it was filled. The Haskells, Seefelts, Dingmans and others in Latham became close friends during the boating years. Frances loved to play Bridge and she was golfer, like he father, Robert E. Foote. She had many lady friends both in Illinois and in Florida through Bridge and Golf. She was a member of several golf clubs and bridge groups. She was a serious competitor in Golf and Bridge. She played in seniors' tournaments.

After her husband, Robert, passed in 1978 she moved from the farm in Illinois to their Peeble Creek Condo in Stuart, FL. A year after that she sold the Stuart condo and bought the Green Turtle Cove Condo across from the Holiday Inn, Jensen Beach, FL. She toured all over both within the country and internationally, in her later years. She was an avid reader, a heavy smoker. She liked martini's and B & B on the rocks, daily. Her closest friends in Florida were Norma Garrity, Margie, and Toni Stanley lived down the hall at Green Turtle Cove. She had a second husband for less than two years before he passed. They bought the Princess Condo on the beach, where she lived until her passing. In her last years she had a dear friend, Harry, that she went to parties and out to dinner with. She cooked meals for Harry as well. He and his wife had been friends to Frances before his wife of many years passed. Harry was a wonderful person which her children respected. She was a member of the Presbyterian Church in Stuart, FL. Her favorite Bible verse to quote was, "...Where but by the grace of God go I."



She and daughter, Mary, took a Mother's Day cruise up the Mississippi River on an American Cruise Line paddle boat from New Orleans up to Natchez, Mississippi, just four months before her passing. She passed on August 7, 1998, in Stuart, Florida, at the age of 68, and was buried next to Robert, at Graceland Cemetary in Decatur, Illinois. The cause of death was heart failure. The Rev. Wm Nichols of Champaign gave her funeral sermon. He was a Methodist pastor that was the pastor at the Latham Methodist Episcopal Church when the family were members as young adults.