Frances Ruth Kotlarz Walton Online Obituary

Frances Walton, 83, Sarasota, died March 11, 2005. She was born April 2, 1921, in Elizabeth, N.J., and came to Sarasota in 1989 from Levittown, N.Y. She was a bookkeeper/office manager and a member of St. John's United Methodist Church.

She was chairman/co-founder of Scarlet Macaws Red Hat Society, former queen of Orange Acres Mobile Home Park and a board member of Mempham High School Alumni Association in Bellmore, N.Y. (see write up below)

Survivors include her husband, Louis Jr.; a daughter, Maureen Frances Walton. of Clearwater; sons Louis III of Clearwater, James A. of Cape Cod, Mass., and Donald P. of Massapequa, N.Y.; a sister, Dorothy Hassard of East Greenwich, R.I.; a brother, Richard Kotlarz of Freeport, N.Y.; seven grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren. Frances was predeceased by her mother, Josephine (Baran) Kotlarz Kraft and father, Michael Kotlarz.

No visitation is planned. Services will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at St. John's United Methodist Church. Burial will be in Hempstead, N.Y. Wiegand Brothers Funeral Home is in charge.

Memorial donations may be made to American Cancer Society, 2801 Fruitville Road, Suite 250, Pen West Park, Sarasota, FL 34237; or to Hospice of Southwest Florida, 5955 Rand Blvd., Sarasota, FL 34238.

Frances Kotlarz Walton '39 The Mepham Alumni Association Board Member 1983-2005

It is with deep regret that we must report the death of Frances Kotlarz Walton on March 11, 2005 in Florida. She was cremated in Florida, and there will be a memorial service at the Bellmore United Methodist Church in Bellmore, on Friday, April 8th at 10:30 AM.

Fran, in the first class of the newly founded Bellmore-Merrick Central District in an old wooden former elementary school in Bellmore, moved into the brand new Mepham building in 1937.She participated in the selection of the "Pirates" theme, was an Honor Roll Student, member of the National Honor Society, Class Secretary, and Editor-in-Chief of the first yearbook. After graduation in June '39 she worked in the Mepham High School office for two years.

In 1939 she tried to stimulate interest in the formation of an alumni association, but its time hadn't come.She joined the Alumni Association Board of Directors in 1983; was Corresponding Secretary 1985-87, and, as chairman of its Reunion Committee in 1985-88, participated in the first reunion for Classes '39, '40, and '41 held in May 1983; assisted with the 50th Anniversary of Mepham held in 1987; and the 50th Anniversary of the Class of '39 in 1989. Moving to Sarasota, Florida didn't keep Fran from her active involvement with Mepham-she helped arrange three Florida reunions of Classes '39,'40, and '41.

Fran has published her class newsletter since 1983, and has been a Class Representative since its inception in '94. In 2003 she received the Mepham Alumni Association Meritorious Service Award. In Florida she was Queen of the Scarlet Macaws Chapter of the Red Hat Society, and Treasurer and Queen of the Orange Acres Mobile Home Park

Fran married Lou Walton in 1941.