We love you Aunt Frances and we will miss you sooooo much!!

Frances Houghtaling---December 13, 1907-----July 2, 2012

On Monday evening, July 2, my dear Great Aunt Frances Houghtaling went home to be with the Lord at the age of 104.5!!! She finally took her long awaited trip "home" to heaven to be with Jesus, and her beloved husband and daughter and many others that have gone on before her!
 Here is her obituary as it appeared in Fosters:


Frances Houghtaling
Obituary
Guest Book
"Frances was an encouragement to us and a joy to be with. We..."
- Larry and Melissa Strout
View Sign

CHARLESTOWN, R.I. — Frances Houghtaling, 104, formerly of Rochester passed away peacefully at the home of her granddaughter on July 2, 2012, following a brief illness.

Born Dec. 13, 1907, in Center Barnstead, she was the daughter of the late Ansel and Alice (Paige) Emerson.

Mrs. Houghtaling was a homemaker. She had a very strong Christian faith and was an active member of the True Memorial Baptist Church in Rochester joining on July 2, 1953. She enjoyed supporting Missions work, and often opened her home to visiting missionaries. She was a skilled baker, she was an accomplished seamstress and was especially known for her tatting. She had a gift for encouraging people and loved sending cards and emails for all occasions.

Members of her family include her six grandchildren; many great and great-great grandchildren; as well as several nieces and nephews.

She was predeceased by her husband of 67 years, Earl Houghtaling; her daughter, Constance DeFalco; and two sisters, Marguerite Meserve and Eileen Farmer.

Family and friends may visit from 12 to 1 p.m. Thursday, July 5, 2012, at the True Memorial Baptist Church located on Ten Rod Rd in Rochester. A funeral service will follow at 1 p.m. Burial will follow in the Pine Grove Cemetery in Gilmanton Iron Works.

Arrangements are under the direction of the R.M. Edgerly and Son Funeral Home 86 S. Main St. Rochester, N.H.

Aunt Frances with Grace in 2007

 She was such a prayer warrior, and an amazing woman of faith, and she was one of my best friends these last many years! 

She spent from April through October at her beautiful camp on Suncook Lake in Barnstead that she and her husband Earl built themselves...(and never working on a Sunday!) 


She hosted many a baptism at her camp...probably numbering in the 100's and 100's of people! One of those baptisms was Glenn in 2001!! Another was Grace in October  2010!

We are so blessed to have been able to see her Memorial Day weekend for a cookout at her camp in Barnstead! She had her hair in rollers since she had church the next day, and a sweater on even though it was 88 degrees that day!

 I will treasure my "Saturdays with Aunt Frances!" soooo much! I went to her camp every Saturday morning through the summer and put her hair up in rollers. It was such a blessed time. We'd chat and she'd ask me how she could pray for me, and she always asked about everyone in our family. I'd take out her trash, put up her curtains, and do other things for her, too! Over the years she has been such an encouragement to us, sharing scripture and reminding us to look to the Lord and making sure that we were doing the right thing, and pointing us in the direction of what God would want us to do.

She was my Dad's mom's sister. So...my nana Marguerite and she were sisters. About 5 years ago, my Dad and his remaining siblings met us at her camp and they had a wonderful visit with her. They played their harmonicas and visited and then took her out to Johnson's for supper. It was a wonderful day!

Left to right...Grace, My Dad, David, Aunt Frances, Aunt Alice, Uncle Frankie, Aunt Pat, Uncle Bob, (front row) Jonathan, Nick, and Madelyn.

 5 years ago this coming December, her grand daughter Tammie, and her dear friend Marge and myself and my cousin Cindy helped to organize a 100 year birthday party for her! It was awesome, and a complete surprise to her! She had NO idea! I think all of her relatives were there for the most part and tons of friends! It was amazing! It's not often you get to enjoy the company of a century old person!!

 Last summer, I was able to take Glenn's grandmother Jeanette, who is 92, over to the camp to visit A. Frances. Jeanette was so encouraged by her, and the fact that she was 103 at that time! It was such a sweet time of fellowship for the two of them!

A few summers ago, I brought my friend Tracey and our daughters over to the camp for a tatting lesson. Both Tracy and I tried endlessly to understand how to tat. We would watch Aunt Frances time and time again and keep trying. It seemed so effortless for her, and so hard for us. Each year for at least 6 years, we'd get a Christmas card in the mail from Aunt Frances and in it would be a beautiful tatted Christmas ornament! Such a labor of love, and now I know first hand the work that went into it!!

 So, in closing...Aunt Frances will NEVER be famous, she won't have a missionary story written about her, her name won't be known throughout the earth as someone who will "go down in history", BUT.....to our family and in our circle, she's a true missionary! Always exhibiting the true model of joy in the Lord:

J--Jesus first
O--others second
Y--Yourself last

I love you so much Aunt Frances! I can't wait to rejoice with you in heaven one day!