Frances Leigh Gordon Archer July 23, 1951 March 8, 2016 Frances passed away peacefully at her home in Larkspur on March 8, 2016, after a three-month battle with pancreatic cancer, at the very young age of 64. She left us much too soon. Frances was born July 23, 1951 in San Francisco, the youngest child of Richard F. and C. Agnes Gordon. Frances graduated from Lowell High School in San Francisco, Class of 1969. She received her BA in Radio Broadcast Communications and MA in Instructional Design from San Francisco State University. She was awarded a second Masters in Library and Information Science (MLIS) from San Jose State University. Frances met her husband, Mark Archer, on a blind date in 1992. A mutual friend introduced them at her house in Sausalito over breakfast. A few days later the smitten Mark invited Frances to a wine tasting event in San Francisco, and they were together almost every day ever since. Frances moved from San Francisco to Larkspur to be with Mark in 1994, and they were married on September 20, 2000 while on vacation in Fiji. Frances developed her love for libraries when she joined the Convent of the Sacred Heart Catholic High School for Girls in San Francisco in 1991 as Assistant Librarian. Once she completed her MLIS degree, she was promoted to Head Librarian. In 1995 Frances accepted the Head Librarian position at Marin Academy in San Rafael. She really found her home, though, when she accepted the position of Library Director for the City of Larkspur in 1999. Frances remained with the City of Larkspur until she took an early retirement for medical reasons in February 2016. Frances was a very bright beacon of light in her community. If you were fortunate enough to have spent any amount of time with her, you would leave with a smile on your face and a little more bounce in your step. Her energy, warmth and joy would always rub off on you. She was well known and loved by so many folks in Larkspur and throughout the greater Marin County area - her neighbors, library patrons, her librarian fraternity, City of Larkspur staff and members of the community-at-large. She was so well loved and respected that Frances was selected as the 2012 Larkspur Citizen of the Year. Frances enjoyed spending time with her best friend - her loving and adoring husband, Mark. Together, they enjoyed travelling, movies, reading, listening to music, going on long walks and spending time with friends and family. Frances is survived by her husband Mark Archer, twin brother Robert Gordon, sister Ayesha Rognlie and brother-in-law Collin Rognlie, brother Barry Gordon and sister-in-law Nikita Gordon, niece Summer Rognlie Trisler and her husband Jeff Trisler, nephew Michael Rognlie, niece Delaney Gordon and grand niece Sienna Axe. Please join Frances' family and friends for a Celebration of Life Event on Sunday, April 10, 2016 at 3 pm at the Corte Madera Community Center, 498 Tamalpais Dr, Corte Madera, CA 94924. In lieu of flowers or gifts, contributions in Frances' name may be made to the Friends of the Larkspur Library.
Published in Marin Independent Journal from Mar. 12 to Mar. 16, 2016
Here's a picture of our Twin Peaks Kindegarten graduation party, hosted by Helen Sylvani. Frances Gordon is middle row, 5th from the left. Robert is bottom row right. I'm top row, 2nd from left. I can name most of the others--many Lowell grads eventually. Can you name them? I'll bring this to the reunion.
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Thanks for posting Francie's obit Raoul! She and her twin "Robbie" were two of my best friends at Twin Peaks Elementary School, which was K-6. It is now called "Rooftop Alternative School" (PK-8).
We were three peas in a pod loving sports, and that may be the only reason we willingly went to school in those days--we lived for recess and lunch games, and academia was an annoyance! While other kids were playing hopscotch, jump rope and 4-square (I was lousy at all three), we played "kick ball" and were celebrated jocks at our tiny elementary school. Home runs involved kicking the ball over the outfield fence, and we were all competing for life-time records--mine was 112, achieved on graduation day in my good clothes. (I heard there's no fence now). Frankly I never got over not having kickball or recess at Aptos or Lowell (no girls' team HS sports until Title 9?). But as an adult I got into softball and later soccer in a big way.
I shared this story with Frances at a previous reunion and we had a good laugh. Back then she was worried about her brother Robert, who had digestive problems and was quite thin at the time--anyone talk to him lately? He was a shy guy, but handsome and quite the charmer.
Frances did really great in her life--it seems we all landed on our feet and by the time we were at Lowell we matured and started to get more serious about school. I can't fathom a school succeeding without a healthy sports, music, and drama program. It keeps jocks like Frances, Robert, and myself in school because there is something fun to look forward to and you have to keep your grades up to participate.
At Lowell it was the music program, not sports, that changed my life forever. Music programs are poorly supported in the public schools with limited funding. One idea to save music programs in public schools is to have colleges accept music as a foreign language. Anyone on a college board?
I was shocked to read of Francie's passing. Thanks for posting her obit. Francie was indeed a bright light. I last saw her in San Francisco in early '95, when she was still at the girls' school in San Francisco. I remember her sharing she was "hoping for this job to come through in Marin." Clearly, it did, and what a blessing it turned out to be.
Raoul Gruenberg (1969)
July 23, 1951 - March 8, 2016
Tess Smith (Albin-Smith) (1969)
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Thanks for posting Francie's obit Raoul! She and her twin "Robbie" were two of my best friends at Twin Peaks Elementary School, which was K-6. It is now called "Rooftop Alternative School" (PK-8).
We were three peas in a pod loving sports, and that may be the only reason we willingly went to school in those days--we lived for recess and lunch games, and academia was an annoyance! While other kids were playing hopscotch, jump rope and 4-square (I was lousy at all three), we played "kick ball" and were celebrated jocks at our tiny elementary school. Home runs involved kicking the ball over the outfield fence, and we were all competing for life-time records--mine was 112, achieved on graduation day in my good clothes. (I heard there's no fence now). Frankly I never got over not having kickball or recess at Aptos or Lowell (no girls' team HS sports until Title 9?). But as an adult I got into softball and later soccer in a big way.
I shared this story with Frances at a previous reunion and we had a good laugh. Back then she was worried about her brother Robert, who had digestive problems and was quite thin at the time--anyone talk to him lately? He was a shy guy, but handsome and quite the charmer.
Frances did really great in her life--it seems we all landed on our feet and by the time we were at Lowell we matured and started to get more serious about school. I can't fathom a school succeeding without a healthy sports, music, and drama program. It keeps jocks like Frances, Robert, and myself in school because there is something fun to look forward to and you have to keep your grades up to participate.
At Lowell it was the music program, not sports, that changed my life forever. Music programs are poorly supported in the public schools with limited funding. One idea to save music programs in public schools is to have colleges accept music as a foreign language. Anyone on a college board?
Raoul Gruenberg (1969)
Thanks Tess; my pleasure.
Eric Dale (1968)
I was shocked to read of Francie's passing. Thanks for posting her obit. Francie was indeed a bright light. I last saw her in San Francisco in early '95, when she was still at the girls' school in San Francisco. I remember her sharing she was "hoping for this job to come through in Marin." Clearly, it did, and what a blessing it turned out to be.
Celeste Verrill (Austria Marks) (1969)
I just loved the twins! My sincere condolences to Francie's family and friends.