By Matthew Avitabile
SEWARD — It was a very special birthday on June 28th as Frances Van Deusen reached 97 years. If she gets 100 years, she said, she would be thrown a big party by her church with Kathy Davis planning a great dinner. It’s something to look forward to.
Born in Cobleskill on Quarry Street, Frances remembers the eponymous quarry, owned by a man named Mr. Morton at the time.
Growing up, she said that she remembered her “very nice grandmother” Mathilda Lydia Parslow in Schoharie who always treated her with something nice to eat, like bread with butter and sugar.
“Little things were nice,” she said.
Mathilda died in her 50s and was a small woman who lived in the quarry. It was a great thing to go for a ride with her parents to see her grandmother, she said.
Frances should have graduated from Cobleskill High School in 1946 but quit in her senior year after being disgusted with her English teacher, but added that non receiving the diploma never affected her in the 78 years since.
True happiness reached her when she wed farmed Richard Van Deusen, leading to a happy 68-year marriage. It was a happy life as a housewife, including travel and more. The couple spent a lot of time camping. At first, Richard outfitted his truck as a camper. This grew into a tag-a-long trailer. Then it came to a motorhome that allowed them to travel comfortably. The two stopped using it when Richard turned 80. The two were able to travel all over, including the Adirondacks.
That being said, she learned a valuable lesson due to a tragic incident.
“Schoharie County needs a nursing home,” she said. Her husband Richard was seriously injured in a car accident that resulted in him having a broken neck and her injured with a broken clavicle. For seven months she visited her husband every day in Cooperstown for seven months before Richard passed away.
Frances never believed that she would make it to 97.
“I never thought I’d reach up to 90.”
She recalled her father who worked at the cement plant in Central Bridge who was burned in an explosion in December 1940 and died at 49. He lived for four months after the explosion despite being burned across three-quarters of his body and given 48 hours to live.
The death affected Frances, who was just 14 at the time, and was a heavy difficulty for her mother, who lived for thirty more years. Frances spoke well of her parents, William and Mary, with William originally hailing from Seward and Marty from Schoharie. Her mother passed away at 75, while her sister who was 13 years her senior died in her early 60s.
They had seen a house on Route 10 when Frances was younger. She had asked if the family could purchase the home. When she was married, her husband saw that the same house was for sale. He left for the day and didn’t say where he was going. He decided to purchase the house from the retired schoolteacher Mrs. Demming, who was now in her 80s. Mrs. Demming wanted to sell the house to live in an apartment. Mrs. Demming stated that she felt the house was dirty, but Frances found it to be “immaculate.”
When her husband made the purchase, Frances knew that he had bought a home, but not the one that she sought after as a child. The family moved into the home in June 1968. She said that she could not see herself living anywhere else. When asked about whether she’d like an apartment, Frances asked “What do I want with an apartment?
Faith has played a large role in Frances’ life, including her membership with a “wonderful” church in West Richmondville that consolidated the former churches in Dorloo and Hyndsville.
By 90, Frances decided to give up driving and thanked her son Warren and daughter Patty for driving her anyplace she needed to be.
Her kids expected a fight to give up her keys, but Frances said that she didn’t “want to be in trouble.”
“I didn’t mind it at all,” she said.
Her two surviving children help her with anything she needs. Frances also fondly recollected her first son William who died of a heart attack at 54. He was a farm mechanic with a large collection of tractors before. Her youngest daughter Jan Marie lived in Florida before dying of cancer at 61.
She also praised her grandchildren. She has seven grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren, including Amy, who is a Doctor of Pediatrics, and Mary, a teacher.
“They’re all wonderful,” she said.
It was a real treat to be able to speak to Frances and we’re looking forward to another interview and party for her 100th birthday!
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