FRANCES GERALDINE RUSSELL MEDLIN

September 29, 1924 – August 26, 2024

Frances (Fran) Geraldine Russell Medlin was born on September 29, 1924 in her grandparents' farmhouse, set in northern Marshall County, Indiana, to parents Eunice Rowena Bachtel Russell and William Jacob Dickson Russell.  Just shy of her 100th birthday, she experienced a full life before passing peacefully at home in Plano, Texas on August 26, 2024, with her children near.

Fran's childhood was primarily spent in South Bend, Indiana where her parents were both schoolteachers and her father coached school basketball teams.  She graduated from Riley High School in 1942, where she played the clarinet in the band and orchestra and acted in school plays.  Fran attended Kalamazoo College in Kalamazoo, Michigan, studying liberal arts and majoring in English literature.  She also continued playing the clarinet with the college band.  Fran's lifelong love of travel began when she took train trips with her college roommates to see New York and Boston.  She dreamed of graduating and working in journalism for a newspaper, but World War II intervened.  Instead, during the remainer of the war, she returned to South Bend and worked for Sibley Machine & Foundry, doing clerical work.

Following the war, Fran was ready to see the world.  In October of 1946, she took a flight 'hostess' position with Braniff Airways and moved to their headquarters of Dallas, Texas.  She lived with roommates, renting space within homes located near Love Field, the airline's base of operation.  She described this as an exciting existence, flying to many new towns and places within Texas on a DC-3 and later extending to Midwestern cities on a DC-4 and DC-6.  On breaks, she especially enjoyed traveling with her fellow flight hostesses to New Orleans, Mexico City and Acapulco.  In 1947, she met her soon to be husband, Shirley Allen Medlin, who was also working for Braniff Airways as a purser (male hostess) while waiting for a pilot position to open.  Shirley, known as Al, had trained and flown as a Naval Aviator fighter pilot during the latter half of the war.  Fran and Al married on October 16, 1948 at Mount Auburn Christian Church in Dallas, Texas.  Upon marriage, she was expected to resign as a flight hostess.  When later asked how she felt about this, she would reply "that is just the way that it was then."  They both resigned from Braniff at this time.

After Fran and Al were married, they chose to stay in Texas.  Al was a native Texan, born in Midland and raised on a ranch in the West Texas town of Garden City.  His various jobs during this time took the couple to Houston, Lubbock and Amarillo, where his parents had retired.  Their first child, Russell Lewis (Rusty) was born in Amarillo in 1949.  Having returned to work and reside in East Dallas in 1950, a pilot position was finally offered in 1951 by American Airlines, where Al spent his career of 32 years.  During the early years of flying out of Love Field, the couple relocated to Garland, Texas where they spent many wonderful years and made many lifelong friends.  Fran was a fine homemaker and a loving and supportive mother.  Son Allen Douglas (Doug) was born in 1951 and daughter Marianne was born in 1957, both in Dallas hospitals.  Al and Fran bought their first house on Brooks Street in Garland, Texas and in 1954, needing space for a growing family, purchased a house on Melody Lane, also in Garland, where they resided over forty years until the children were grown.  All children attended Williams Elementary and Sam Houston Jr High schools in Garland; Rusty and Doug graduated from Garland High School in 1967/69 and Marianne graduated from North Garland High School in 1975.

Fran loved to travel, especially to historic places, read, do needlework and kept herself busy with parent/teacher responsibilities until she decided to return to college to finish her degree work and return to a career.  She attended North Texas State University in Denton, Texas and completed her bachelor's degree in English literature and a dual master's degree in Education and Library Science by the early 1970's, student teaching at Sam Houston Jr High in the Garland Independent School District.  She served as Head Librarian at Lake Highlands High School located in the Richardson Independent School District until she retired in the mid 1980's.  She obtained membership in the Order of the Eastern Star and Daughters of the American Revolution and was always interested in genealogy and learning about her family's heritage.  While in Garland, the family were long-time members at Eastern Hills Country Club and Monica Park Christian Church, where Fran sang in the choir.  Fran and Al enjoyed playing Bridge and Dominoes with friends and family vacations in the mountains of New Mexico and Colorado.

Fran and Al retired simultaneously; Al, flying B-747's as Captain for American Airlines, was required to retire on March 9, 1983, his 60th birthday.  During the retirement years, Fran and Al loved to spend time at their lake house on Lake Lydia in East Texas and travel, especially with Al's brother Homer Medlin and Al's sister Mary Lou McGregor along with their spouses.  Favorite trips together were to National Parks in the Western US, the British Isles, Russia and a number of trips to the Mediterranean and the Holy Land, some with church groups from First Baptist.  By this time, Fran and Al were members of The First Baptist Church of Garland and lived in Rowlett, Texas.  Final years were spent in Plano, Texas at Atria Independent Living, where Fran and Al both passed within 4 years of each other.  Without the companionship of her husband and losing the eye-sight needed for reading and needlework, Fran faithfully followed a variety of sports on the TV.  Her ability to retain players' names and statistics of her favorite golfers and Dallas teams was simply amazing.

Fran was preceded in death by her beloved husband of over 70 years, Shirley Allen (Al) Medlin.  She is survived by 3 children:  son Russell Lewis (Rusty) Medlin and wife Melanie of Arlington Heights, Illinois, son Allen Douglas (Doug) Medlin and wife Brenda of Bedford, Texas and daughter Marianne Medlin MacGillivray and husband Jim of Ute Park, New Mexico.  She is survived by 6 grandchildren:  Jon Medlin and wife Sarah, Andrea Quevedo, Sara Medlin and partner Adam Vida, Melissa Fuller and husband Cale, Cormac Graham and partner Bonnie Berry and Margaret (Meg) Plumb and husband Dave.  She is also survived by 8 great-grandchildren:  Caitlyn and Cassidy Quevedo, Millie and Kai Fuller, Eli Medlin, Eleanor and Murphy Plumb and Emmylou Berry-Graham.  Also surviving are nieces Debbie Medlin, Dianne Trese, Patsy Sadowski, Shirley Pearson and nephew Gary Medlin.  Family was always central to her heart and family cookouts with homemade ice cream were frequently held around the backyard pool on Melody Lane.

Mom was healthy until the end, when her Lord called her home.  We will miss her sweet smile and the many bowls of ice cream shared with her, her absolute favorite!

Interment will be at DFW National Cemetery alongside her beloved husband Shirley Allen, a US Navy veteran on Friday, August 30, 2024 at 9:00 AM.

The family requests that no flowers be sent for services.

A Memorial Service will be held on Saturday, September 28, 2024 at 3:00 PM at First Baptist Church Cockrell Chapel Located at 801 W. Ave. D Garland, Texas 75040, everyone is welcome to gather with family 30 minutes prior.

In lieu of flowers, if you would like, please make memorial contributions to wreathsacrossamerica.org and specify DFW National Cemetery