It is with heavy hearts we announce the passing of Barbara Francisco, age 91, a beloved mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother on April 22, 2025 at F.F. Thompson Hospital.
Honoring Barb's wishes, there will be no services, but a celebration of life will be held near her birthday in July.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Stanley-Hall-Gorham Ambulance, P.O. Box 57, Hall, N.Y. 14463.
Barb was born at home in the Town of Seneca, July 10, 1933, the daughter of George and Agnes Campbell. She worked at Marcus Whitman High School as a teachers' aide and later as a chef at Loomis Barn's Corn House Café. Many of the recipes served there were hers and cuisine was a serious passion. Family gatherings were joyous occasions where food was abundant and there was possibly an entire table dedicated to deserts. Barb also made beautiful and delicious wedding cakes for many clients.
One of her other passions was flying. She was a member of the Middlesex Flying Club and spent many happy years there flying one of the club's 4 planes. Her passengers, usually family and friends, quite often requesting to fly over one of the lakes.
There were years when she went north to the mountains in the winter to snowmobile with friends. She also loved riding her Honda Gold Wing and belonged to a motorcycle club called the Retreads.
She travelled many miles in New York State, her favorite journeys involving winding roads. In fact she loved driving and was traveling solo to Florida or Atlanta, Georgia while in her 80's every winter.
One of her favorite adventures was participating in the Whitman to Whitman relay in 1984. She was driving her Winnebago as part of the support team for 20 runners (one of them her daughter Kristi) 2,600 miles from Marcus Whitman High School to Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington. As you can imagine she had many stories about this journey which she loved to tell.
She loved gardening and at one time belonged to a garden club, and in the past she volunteered at Sonnenberg Gardens guiding tours. She enjoyed communicating with grandchildren, nieces and nephews all over the country. She was the second of 10 children so there were many to keep track of and she loved hearing about their lives.
Her story would not be complete without mentioning the place that was her summer home, Camp in the Woods. She quite often made the stuffing for their turkey dinners and enjoyed many years of potlucks, crafts, playing mahjong and cards with friends. She enjoyed the community atmosphere and was grateful for the people who helped her out, stopped to chat or just checked to see if she was OK. Her family is also very grateful and appreciative of the Frankish Family and other kind people who looked out for her. Thank you all.
Barbara is survived by her daughter, Cathy (Tim) Marks and Karen (Jeff) Shaner; son's, Scott (Judy) Francisco, Chris (Laurie) Francisco; grandchildren, Jennifer Marks Muscato, Adam Marks, Lane Blankenberg, Steven Francisco, Jeff, Colleen and Matt Perrin, Kevin Betts, Andrea Whalen, Rachel Moore, Ari Shaner, Dr. Sarah Fittro, Michael and Nate Francisco, Alexandra Scott, Bryan Spencer and Nick Woll; Barbara's sister, Judy Grover; 17 great-grandchildren; and many beloved nieces and nephews.
Barbara was predeceased by her parents; brothers, Ray, Rex, Bob, Rick and Greg Campbell; sisters, Marge Jensen, Mona Smart, Linda Campbell and Daughter Kristen Francisco.
