February 28, 2022
Written by Linda Goodrick
This month I’d like you to meet a supportive member of Grandmothers Against Gun Violence, Frances Carr and hear of her work to serve our community. Growing up, she said she wasn’t privileged and her mother had to learn to do everything herself: cooking, knitting, quilting, and sewing. Reading poetry was her little escape from taking care of the family. Her father was a construction worker, an excellent provider and she remembers how handsome he looked when he dressed up to usher in their church. When comparing herself to her mother, Frances says with a chuckle, “I only acquired her love of poetry.”
She is the youngest of 5 and was born in Mt. Olive, Arkansas, a small town founded by sons of slaves near Warren, AK. The cemetery in Mt. Olive goes back to the 1800’s and the former residents try to have a reunion every 2 years. The family moved when she was about 5 to Watts, CA. Most of her family live in Pasadena and Seattle now, but her brother still has property in Watts, where there’s been major improvements since the riots of the 1990’s.
An army recruiter left Frances with stars in her eyes: in 1955 after high school graduation, she and her best friend, Mary joined the Women’s Army Corps for 2 years, hoping to travel to Paris, France then get their college education. Their adventure began when these California girls, 2 black and 4 white from Beverly Hills’ Hollywood High took their first airplane ride to Fort McClellan, in Anniston, Alabama, headquarters of the Women’s Army Corps and a hotbed of racial strife and segregation. At a cafe en-route to the base the girls stopped for hamburgers, but Mary and Frances were told they had to order and eat theirs outside. The white girls were the most surprised and wanted to join them, but Mary and Frances said, ‘no’. After training camp, Frances was assigned to Fort Ord near San Francisco, where she went to school and worked in the health clinic.
First comes love, then comes marriage: She started at Seattle U. in their Nursing program, but met her husband Luther, at a student party, got married and had their family of 2 daughters and 1 son before changing her plans and returning to get her degree in Communications at the University of Washington. He died in 2014 after 56 years together and his advice lives with her to this day: “Movement doesn’t necessarily mean progress.” So, Frances being a mover, has worked with many community organizations and here are a few examples of her progress: She worked 5 years as the Director of Client Relations for Jones Associates in Bellevue, an engineering firm that provides support services for entities like the Port of Seattle and small suburban cities.
In the late 1970’s Frances was invited by Kay Bullitt to be one of the 10 Founding Directors of Sound Savings and Loan, the first of its kind in the country to provide loans to women. Each Director put up $10.000.00, they wrote the Articles of Incorporation, sold stock and opened a branch office in Tacoma when they had enough assets. Bob Truex, CEO of Rainier Bank was an investor and offered loans to the Directors. Other supporters were Jeweler, Herb Bridge, son of Ben and Hollywood Director, Stanley Kramer and his wife. Beverly Smith, Director of the Washington State’s Nurses Association, was their first Board President and all were committed to bring economic stability and self-sufficiency to women. The Savings and Loan merged with Washington Mutual Bank in the 1990s.
She is a member and was a Board President of the Seattle Chapter of LINKS, Inc. an international organization founded on the East coast in the 1940’s. It links people together to focus on issues in the African American communities. It has an active S.T.E.M. + an added A. program for middle school girls that includes the Arts with the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math subjects. Seattle has a vibrant chapter that works with the public schools to introduce all kids to non-traditional careers and provides academic recognition, educational seminars and scholarships from elementary school age through college.
She worked as Mayor Norm Rice’s Executive Assistant and also served on the Board of Strategic Education Centers/SEC with Constance Rice, his wife. SEC started a school for girls in Swaziland, Africa because girls didn’t have the same educational opportunities as the boys. 9.11.2001 found them in Swaziland to launch the school. They took refuge in the American Embassy, thanks to the hospitality of Ambassador Gregory Johnson, a former Washington State Cougar.
After Norm Rice retired Frances became Director of Diversity Affairs for the Department of Social and Health Services/DSHS and commuted to Olympia for 4 1/2 years. She also worked 10 years on a special project to improve the schools and community of White Center, then considered a depressed and ‘hot-spot’ of crime in our area. Funded by the national Anne E. Casey Foundation, a consortium formed with the City of Seattle, King County, Chamber of Commerce, King County Housing Authority and School Districts to uplift the community.
Frances is an active member of Seattle’s First African Methodist Episcopal Church, founded in 1886 before Washington was even a state. Her favorite book is the Bible: she learns from its stories and tries to apply the lessons to her daily life.
Frances accepted Winona Hollins Hague’s invitation to be the Mistress of Ceremony for GAGV’s mayoral candidate debate when Jenny Durkin was running. This sparked her interest in Grandmothers and she has been a member since then. And her feeling about guns, you ask? “I don’t like guns. I don’t like the mass shootings of young people. Guns cause conflict and they kill. They have no place in an urban environment.” Her father had a gun when they lived in Arkansas to hunt rabbits and birds for the family to eat but she doesn’t think any family members have guns now. She thinks it’s important for schools to talk about guns, especially the good ‘vs’ the bad of having them in the house.
Her mantra is “ships aren’t meant to stay anchored; they must leave the safety of the shore.” Frances has done just that, and her continued success reflects that ambition and willingness to listen, learn and be open to new ideas, then take opportunities when they’re presented.
We applaud your contributions to our city and state, Frances. Thank you.