1937: Frances' Art and Faith
Four pieces of Frances’ artwork.
Throughout her life, Frances’ faith was an integral part of her life and in 1918, as America faced the challenges of World War I, she wrote to the ladies of Omicron Chapter (Illinois at Urbana-Champaign): “There still remains a phase of your development most essential of all and that is the spiritual….I do not see how any woman in this critical time dares assume the responsibilities of life unassisted by divine power. It is yours for the asking. It will help you to be brave in time of trial….”
Among the Founders, Frances was known as “the artist” and nowhere more so than in her art is her spirituality more evident. Her family was fortunate to enjoy the respite provided by their country home in Ephraim, Wisconsin, and her pastels depicting the natural setting hang in Gamma Phi Beta’s International Headquarters to this day. In a letter written in 1914, Frances wrote of this place she loved so much: “Everything here is so beautiful. It is a temptation to sit on the porch or down under the trees in the hammock and simply feast our eyes. It always seems as if our dear Heavenly Father was much nearer us in Ephraim than anywhere else. I suppose it is because we feel His love in creating such a grandly beautiful world for us to live in and enjoy.”