Frances "Fran" Aycock

January 20, 1931 ~ February 20, 2016
Resided in:
Asheville, NC
Sarah Frances "Fran" Aycock
Asheville - Sarah Frances "Fran" Aycock, 85, of Givens Estates, died Saturday, February 20, 2016 at Givens Healthcare Center.
A native of Roberson County, NC, she was a daughter of the late Leon and Mary Alice Jones Thompson. She was also preceded in death by her husband, Johnnie Dolphus Aycock, who died in 2003.
She is survived by her daughter, Kathy Jones and her husband, Tyler, of Hendersonville; a son, John Charles Aycock and his wife, Pam, of Prosperity, SC; three sisters, Doris Webster of Rowland, NC, Mary Sellers of Little River, SC and Betty Jean Pallone of Marietta, GA as well as two grandchildren, John Tyler Jones and Sarah Katherine Jones, both of Hendersonville.
A memorial service will be held at 11:00 AM on Saturday, February 27, 2016 in the Norma F. Pulliam Chapel of Givens Estates with Reverend Ed Hillman officiating.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you consider making a memorial contribution in Fran's memory to CarePartners Hospice Foundation, PO Box 25338, Asheville, NC 28813.
Groce Funeral Home at Lake Julian in Arden is serving the family.
I will miss you just like a sister.
Aunt Frass,
I love you and will miss you more than you could ever know. I will miss our conversations about the latest news and politics. You were always the best at listening but even better at hearing. You had a mind of a learner. Always wanting to find out more about whatever subject we decided to tackle. I will miss how you made everyone feel special, especially me.
love you, cindy
Fran and John were a delight to know and may God’s peace and presence be felt by the family.
Fran and John became my friends when living in Maxton; my parents, Peter D. and Donnie Thompson Jones were members of St. Paul’s UMC. I even believe some kinship was traced through both the Jones and Thompson lines.
Thanks be to God for the life of Fran.
To the family:
We were in the First Methodist Church, Havelock, N. C. when Johnnie was pastor and Fran was our Sunday School Teacher…
They were wonderful, talented and caring people that we enjoyed so much.
We hated to see them move on…
We corresponded with Fran . Such talent she had with poems and she always told us what John & Pam and Kathy & Tyler and grandchildren were
doing.. Fran was very proud of her family and friends.
Thoughts and prayers are with you all,
love,
Patsy & Mickey
We always loved seeing Fran when she visited at Leesville United Methodust Church. She was a warm, friendly woman whom we will miss. We know where she is and can only imagine the Heavenly reunion. May you find peace and comfort in sweet memories of years past. Our thoughts, our prayers are with you throughout the days ahead.
Fran’s father bestowed the family with nicknames . Monk, Sassyfras, Pudding, Cootchie, Bert, Daze, Splick, Charlie Wally, Cotton Top’?. Many of these names faded over the years but Fran shortened hers to Frass and to her sisters, nieces and nephews she has always been and will remain Frass.
To all of us, Aunt Frass was what we needed her to be at that moment: a confidant, an ally, a shoulder to lean on, a friend, an adviser. She always knew when to provide an encouraging word, a compliment, a hug, or a laugh.
Nothing pleased Aunt Frass more than to engage us, even as children, in conversation. From an emerging hobby or interest we had to a talent we had recently developed, from sports to politics, from professional aspirations to personal problems, Aunt Frass had the time to sit and listen to us with genuine interest. She wanted to understand, not simply to know, how we felt, what we thought and what we wanted in and out of life. Most importantly, she absorbed our conversations and our lives became part of hers.
As young children, we were drawn to Aunt Frass because we knew she was warm, fun and interesting. She was the best storyteller and had the timing, inflection and vocal sound effects to captivate her audience. As adults, we watched our own children entertained by Aunt Frass as she told her stories again. None of us will ever forget the ‘?clunk, clunk, clunk’ of Peg-Leg, the one legged chicken that paced around the wooden back porch of the family home until one day during the Depression he was turned into fried chicken. Or the ‘?toot, toot, toot’ of the train that dismembered a fictional Herbert because he was too hardheaded to get off the train tracks. All of her stories ended in a laugh, like a good punch line in a joke.
We are grateful for the tender, loving, formative hand that left us with so many memories and the confidence to ignore our perceived limitations. As one of her legacies, we should all strive to be better listeners, like Aunt Frass.
Robert, David, Dee, Charles, Richard, Cindy, Ken, Linda, Greg
Fran Aycock was my high school Bible teacher at Ellerbe, NC in 1959-60. When I needed counsel & guidance I went to her. On April 7, 1960 she presented the gospel like I had never heard. I totally surrendered my life to Jesus Christ. For 56 years she has been my spiritual mother, sister, intercessor, encourager, friend & supporter. I was baptized, licensed & ordained in ”61, ’62, ’63. I have been a pastor, evangelist, missionary & professor and still active in ministry. I’ve served in NC, AL, OK, TX & IN & traveled in all 50 states & 43 countries. I give God all the glory & Fran Aycock a Big Big Thank You for influencing me to Christ. We all miss you but will meet again soon & very soon
Kathy and John, I am so sorry to hear about Fran. You and your families
certainly have my sympathy. Fran was a very dear and special friend of mine and I thought the world of her.
May God bless you and yours in the days ahead.
With much love,
June Bulla
336-376-3623
My life was changed when my first cousin Frances (Fras) led me to the Lord at a very young age of 14. She was in Bible College in Columbia at the time and she truly lived and believed what she was taught. I loved her and loved talking to her when I saw her. She and John left a legacy of Love in many Methodist churches in NC. Wish I could have spent more time with her on this earth because she was a ray of sunshine and warmed everyone around her.
My love to her family from their cousin Anna Margaret in Tucson, Arizona. I love her sisters dearly, Doris, Betty Jean and Mary. You all are such a fond memory of my childhood.
Thank you Frances for making a difference in so many people’s lives for the GOOD. See you soon, I pray.
My condolences to Fran\’s family. She and Johnnie were some of the first folks I met when I came into the ministry. They were always delightful to see anytime our paths crossed. Blessings to you in this life changing season.
My deepest condolences to the family. John and Fran were precious friends and confidants for mine during my ministry at Rowland UMC. With grace-filled wisdom they taught me a lot about being both a pastor and a pastor’s wife. I am so grateful for their lives and their friendship. I have pulled out Fran’s book on poetry so many times and I am thankful for this gift of her life. May God grant you strength to grieve well and hope to celebrate the promise of eternal life.
Fran was my friend during our years teaching at Magnolia High School. After Magnolia closed as a high school and we were assigned to different schools, we would meet for lunch at The Cracker Barrel in Lumberton and share what had been happening with our lives in the interim. Fran was an enthusiastic lifelong learner, and I will miss our times together. Her book of poetry is lovely, but I especially like the one about dust. It is a sweet and pithy piece that I don’t think is in her latest book. She loved her family, but I remember especially her enthusiasm for her grandson, John. Rest will, good Friend.
Fran was a beautiful, sweet, kind and wonderful person; dearly loved by her family and friends. I was so blessed by the years that she was a part of my life. My love and prayers to the family.
Frances, I have many memories of our childhood as we grew up as neighbors and friends in Rowland. Our families were close friends and depended upon one another. Times are so different today . Children these days don’t develop the closeness that we and your cousins had and the fun times we spent together just ”doing our own thing” that didn’t require any money. We rode bikes, skated [in the legion hut] played the piano and sang. We all just had a good time. In much later years I always enjoyed your homemade bread….Goodbye my friend, until we meet again… Nancy
John and Cathy,
We have fond memories of your mother, such a lovely spirit. We send you and your family love and sympathy during this sad time. We remember both your parents as they served Winstead United Methodist Church in Wilson. We are thankful for their friendship and ministry.
Much love,
Fred and Sanda Hight
Wilsobn, NC
To my sister Frass,
Frass was next to oldest of the us four girls. Looking back she was the one that wanted all that life had to offer. She knew what the dragonfly knows,
you have to live life to the fullest in the short time you have, a lesson for all of us. I was the youngest and my memories are of Frass always busy getting on with her life. Never a thought of ‘I can’t do this’, she just found a way to get it done. She was the only one of us four to have the gumption to get outside the box. She worked to pay for voice lessons from Jean Graham Smith, with no money she set out to get her degree from Columbia Bible College, knowing God would provide and He did.
Later in our adult life, after raising our children, we grew closer. We could not believe we had all lived to our 80’s. We would talk about how God had blessed our live. Frass would spend the winter months with me and Earl at the beach. Everyone looked forward to her visits. She would sit with Earl and watch the ballgames. Being a die hard Duke fan, they would often be pulling for opposite teams but that is what made it fun. She was to everyone here, just what they needed her to be. She was my craft partner, Earl’s sports enthusiast, Cindy’s political companion, Linda’s fellow teacher, and everyone’s best listener. We will so miss her..
She showed us all how we should live, Love one another. I am blessed to be one of the Thompson sister.
Love you Frass, I will miss you until we meet again
Mary(Coochie)