Francis, William I.
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Francis, William I.
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William I. Francis
R
EV. William I. Francis, 74, of Sagi. naw, a retired member of the DetroJ~ Conference, died November 19 at
Sagmaw General Hospital after an illness of five weeks.
Entering the minis try in 1918, he
served churches at Otisville Flint
Ortonville, Dexter, Carsonville: Besse~
mer a nd Hillman. He retired in 1935
due to ill health, moving to Saginaw.
H e was, in r e tirement, a me mber of
Ames Methodis t Chur ch , the Christian
Bus iness Men's Committee, Lhe Gideons ,
and the Golden Age Club. In later
years he developed an inte rest in poetry,
his poems being published in a number
of newspapers and periodicals including the Michigan Ch1·istian Adv ocate.
He is s urvived by his wife, Rev.
Bla nche S. Francis; a son, Rev. John L.
Francis , pasto1· of First Methodis t
Ch urch , Ithaca; a nd two daug hters, Miss
Faith F1·m r· is , missionary at l\IcAllen,
Texas, and Mrs. Mathew O'Meara of
Sanford. A s is ter, Mrs. Amenda T emple
of Port Huron, a lso survives.
Final s ervices were he ld Friday, Nov.
21, in Saginaw, with Dr. Hugh S. Townley officiating and burial in Byron, Michigan.
;;-..,... ""
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REV. MRS. BLANCHE S. FRANCIS,
76, r eti·red me mber of the Detroit Conf erence, <lied July 5 in Saginaw County
Rehabilitation
Center
following
a
lengthy illness. l'vb·s. Francis studied at
Genesee County Normal College, Chicago Evangelistic Institute and Dako ta
Wesleyan University. For ten years
prior to her mar:riage to the late Rev.
William I. F •r oncis she did evangelistic
work throughout the United States. In
1940 S'h e was the fit·st woman to be o~·
dained in The Mebhodist Church following the 1939 merger 'Of the Methodist
Protestant and Methodist Epi scopal denominations. :She served the La.t'Ol"te
Me thodist church for six year s before
going to Saginaw as pastor of the former Stevens Street Chur·ch, now the State
Street Methodist Church. F'rom 1944-48
she taught at Chicago Evangelistic l nstibute and in 1948 returned to Saginaw
as associa te minister orf the Ames
Methodist Chm'Cih from which she retired in 1957. H e r husband preceded her
in death in 1958. Survivors include two
daughters, M·i ss Faith F'1·ancis, Saginaw, and Mrs . Ma tthew O'Meara, Sanford; and a son, Rev. John L . Franc is,
pastor of First United Methodist
Church , Hillsdale. Funeral services, 'h eld
J·uly 8 in the Armes Church , were conducted by Rev. Richard Lol:lb and Major
Raymond Cwmeron. Methodis t ministers,
close friends o:f the family, s erved a s
pa'llbearers including R ev. Charles A.
Jacobs, Rev. Martin G. Seitz, Rev. Benja.min .C. W haley, Rev. Glenn A. Atchinson, Rev. John W. Simpson and Rev.
Warren D. Pettis. Burial was in Byron.
Francis, William I.