DENNISON, FRANCES FERRY was born December 3 1920 to Mansfield & Jean Morris Ferry. After saying goodbye to her 5 children, she died peacefully Tuesday afternoon, July 19, 2016. She was 95 years old. She was married for 66 years to her beloved husband, Ethan Allen Dennison Jr. until his death in 2007. She was a wife; Mother of five fabulous (she insisted we say that) children: Lee (Mansfield) Dennison Roussel, Diana (Mansfield) Dennison Smith, Elizabeth Jean Dennison, Allen Mansfield Dennison, and Andrew Oliver Dennison; Grandmother of 11; great-grandmother of four and an active professional. In 1938, Frances graduated from the Chapin School in New York City, and began her College studies at Vassar. In 1941 she married E. Allen Dennison and continued her College studies at Barnard College and Columbia University. Prior to starting their family, she traveled as a wife of a decorated naval officer during World War II. After the war they settled in Riverdale where they were both active members of Christ Church for the duration of their lives. In 1966, Frances earned her BA and a professional degree in occupational therapy from New York University. She worked at St. Vincent's Hospital in New York and later at the Riverdale Center for Mental Health. She managed the Trained Liaison Comforters (TLC) program of volunteers supporting families of those in intensive care at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital. She also served on the hospital's auxiliary for over 50 years. She served on the Board of Governors of the Cosmopolitan Club for many years and was an active board member of the New York Institute for Special Education for over 50 years. Franny was a member of the Shakespeare Club, the Riverdale Yacht Club, the West Chop Club and the Cosmopolitan Club. In 2010 she became a resident of Providence, Rhode Island where she made new friends who were very important to her, and where she was close to her children and her brother, John Mansfield Ferry, and his family. In March 2014 Frances was overall winner of the Bristol-Warren Bodacious Spelling Bee and was a fierce jeopardy competitor at Wingate/Epoch Senior Residence. Her Service will be held Saturday July 30 at 4:00 pm St Martin's Church, 50 Orchard Ave Providence, RI. In lieu of flowers please donate in her name to Planned Parenthood www.plannedparenthood.org or a theatre she loved: Trinity Repertory Theatre www.trinityrep.com or The Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre www.gammtheatre.org
Published in The Providence Journal from July 26 to July 27, 2016