Frances McKinzie Ward Zamora passed from this world on October 14, 2020 after 81 years. Her time on earth was devoted to family, friends, faith, and service to others. The world was enhanced by her contributions and diminished by her passing.

Frances died of complications from the COVID-19 virus.

Frances was born on a farm in Fayette, Missouri on September 14, 1939 to Flora Marie Wesselman and William McKinzie. Her five brothers were much older so, when not doing chores such as gathering eggs, Frances spent her early years “with her nose in a book.” She remembered especially the one summer when the family farmhouse was being rebuilt and they all lived in the local library or school where she had access to all the books she could read. By ten years old, her mother was ill and she was cooking for her family and all the farmhands.

Immediately after graduating from high school she married Howard Ward and started a family in Boonville, Missouri. Chasing better economic conditions and new adventures, the Ward family lived in eight towns in three states before settling down in Nassau Bay, Texas in 1973. Frances wrangled five children and all the associated sporting and school activities. The house was never locked because there was always someone – whether family or friends – passing through. The house was a sanctuary, for days or months at a time, to the children’s friends who needed a respite from some tension in their own homes, or friends of friends who were down on their luck. Frances became a bank teller, and worked her way through management to become a bank branch manager. Through hard work and diligent studies, she further honed her professional career by becoming a successful investment banker. After she was widowed in 1990 she also became a city councilwoman.

Some years later Miguel Zamora, a customer at her bank, courted her. They married in 1996 with all the Ward children “giving her away” at the wedding. Frances worked to blend Miguel’s seven children with her own and there were no “stepchildren” in the expanded family. Frances and Miguel enjoyed the bustling traffic of family through the house and delighted in each new addition to their large and boisterous family, whether it was new spouses or new babies. After retirement, they traveled frequently to visit family and even drove to Alaska twice and enjoyed the adventure of working at an Alaska state park one summer. Frances was always eager to see new places and experience new adventures. She became a widow again when Miguel passed away in 2017. She was also preceded in death by her youngest son, Branch, (Lisa) who died in August, 2019.

She volunteered for her church, she volunteered for the library (we suspect in part to get first crack at the used book sales), and she volunteered for the hospital. She laughed often and with much joy. She was a wonderful cook and an inspired baker who made many, many meals, homemade bread, and legendary birthday cakes. She was a talented seamstress who could alter a bridesmaid dress just hours before the wedding and loved to make quilts for her family. She loved family gatherings where everyone talked for hours, and she was eager to play cards or assemble puzzles. She could beat her children at “quarters” (beer pong for the younger generation) and frequently stayed up most of the night with her children, whether it was because they were entertaining guests (high school and college years) or up with fussy babies (adulthood). She was ready with a cup of tea and a listening ear to work through problems both big and small. She persevered through sometimes difficult economic times and the loss of family members and two husbands. Each day she did what she could and what she had to, then went to bed confident that “things will be better tomorrow.”

Survivors include the Wards: Brad Ward (Laurel), Brenda Ward, Barrie Nichols (Kyle), Brook Ward (Cassandra Smith), Lisa Ward and Ceci Ward and on the Zamora side: Miguel Zamora Jr (Holly), Sr. Marie Kolbe Zamora, Jose Zamora (Gabi), Armando Zamora (Carolina), Gabriel Zamora (Miriam), and Amanda Zamora. She was also preceded in death by Miguel’s daughter Letitia Zamora. She leaves behind 28 grandchildren, 6 great-grandchildren with one on the way.

Frances left a house full of books yet to be read, a few unfinished quilts, a legacy of fortitude and love, and many broken hearts of family and friends who were fortunate to have been the object of her caring and love.

A service will be announced in the future when conditions permit a gathering of family and friends. Donations in memory of Frances can be made to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library at imaginationlibrary.com, to foster generations of new book worms.