Following a long illness, Francesca Fryer passed peacefully from this world on September 28, 2001.

This memorial statement was made by her son, Guy Fryer, at a gathering in Francesca's garden in Redding California on September 30th.

Thank you all for coming here today to honor the life of Francesca Fryer, a Mother of four and a Friend to many, an Author and a Historian, a Gardener, and a tenacious and passionate lover of life.

There are some who could not make it today because of the short notice but I am sure they will be holding a space in their hearts today for Francesca. I am grateful that we can gather at her home here in Redding because it is here that she invested so much of herself in her life work of Writing. And it is here that her love and abundant excitement for life is evidenced in the trees and plants that she nurtured into maturity.

It would not be accurate to say that there is a simple and clear way to understand this Woman who figured so greatly in many of our lives, certainly in mine. She was a complex human being who sought out her own creative destiny with a passion, a passion which carried on uninterrupted even by the extreme hardship of her disease and the physical limitations brought with it. She held to an interior vision of the value of the Creative realm with a certainty that stood many of us in awe. Her choices showed a willingness to sacrifice material wants in order to pursue her work, As my Mother, I knew her to be an unstoppable force that could and would find a way to affect change, even if it was only by finding her own understanding of events. She held within her a wonderful passion for life, which she conveyed in an unstoppable enthusiasm and optimism that anything could be accomplished.

She organized and managed a home that included four oversized athletic boys along with numerous pets. She showered encouragement on our efforts and gave of her heart through the incalculable gift of love and service to her Family. She joined the Draft board during the Vietnam conflict in order to better gauge the exposure of her sons to their possible involvement there. She taught developmentally handicapped children, roaming around the county to help in this work. She took these missions seriously, taking to heart her chance to make a difference.

One of the most important choices that Mom demonstrated to me was the importance and sanctity of the interior self. A catch phrase today might call it our center or essence, Mom just referred to it as what was true and important to each of us. She so often acted as a reminder to take this self to heart - to examine ourselves and find what is true and good and to take that into the world.

I believe she has affected many in this way, by imparting love and confidence in the self of those close to her simply by modeling this quiet virtue.

I would not be close to accurate without saying that Mom could be a difficult character. Convinced of her perspective, she would sometimes act without seeming reason. She had her moments with most everyone who loved or worked with her but somehow these moments came to be a part of knowing her and ultimately of accepting her for who she was. This was the kind of acceptance that she could give out and expected in return. I believe it is at the heart of learning to love another human being - to truly allow another to be who and what they are, regardless of our expectations.

The advent of her disease caused an isolation that she worked to overcome in countless ways enlisting the help of Bud Skaggs and others who were devoted friends and allies for many, many years in her efforts to remain self sufficient and able to continue her work.

Mom lived through the change of Women’s roles from the traditional child rearing of her generation to a new one which saw many of the old structures full away. Preceding much of this change she had begun to pursue her right to choose a creative path, a path that would sometimes prove to be painfully lonely.

In the face of these changes and prior to many people understanding the difficulty of walking this road alone, she made these choices. As anyone who knew her would say - She had a hell of a lot of guts, and I would wish (and do believe), that her moral and ethical certainty as well as her kindness has in some way worn off on this world.

All this said - it cannot begin to summarize her life or the dreams and beauty that were the language of her heart. A heart is larger than our mind’s far-reaching dimensions - Mom held to the value of the heart while using her formidable intellect to express it’s purpose.

She leaves this world inestimably richer than when she came, not only in the lives that she brought forth and nourished, and in the friendships and loves that she shared, but in the gift of her creative work: The Sandspit Trilogy.

We will miss her dearly and I call upon the spirit of the earth and sky to welcome her and provide to her the peace and happiness that she so richly deserves.