Frances Louise Blair, formerly of San Diego, CA, passed away at home in China Spring on November 20, 2019 at the age of 78. A Celebration of Life for Frances will be held February 15, at Saint Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church in Poway, CA. She will be inurned at Miramar National Cemetery in San Diego on February 17, where she will be joined by Earnie someday.
Born in Philadelphia, PA to Everett M. Jess and Virginia (Burch) Jess. Frances grew up in Connecticut. She graduated from Norwalk High School in 1959 and received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in History from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1963.
After graduation, Frances moved to Washington, DC to work for the Library of Congress and then back home to Connecticut to teach school. In 1967, she moved to Coronado, CA and taught school there. While living in Coronado, she met and married a Naval officer. For the next 12 years, Frances followed her husband to various duty stations on both coasts.
Frances again taught school after moving to San Diego permanently in 1979. She taught school for a total of 10 years both before and after her final move. In San Diego after teaching, she worked as a sales representative for a local credit union. Her last career was as a partner/sales representative in the home furnishings business. She finally retired in 2007.
In 2005, she met the love of her life, Earnie Giles, on Match.com. They were married in 2009 and remained a very loving couple until her passing. Frances and Earnie moved to China Spring in 2018.
Frances loved to travel. She often said that she had been to 75 countries. Many of these trips were taken with Earnie. One of Frances’ favorite places in the world was Bali where she traveled to 14 times. Most of these trips were taken to work with a small non-profit, The WINS Project USA, that she and Earnie had founded to help the poor children of Bali to get an education. Frances actively supported several non-profit organizations in the San Diego area including as a volunteer for San Diego Hospice, as a pastoral volunteer at St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church in Poway, CA and as a board member for Nine Girls Ask for a Cure for Ovarian Cancer. She financially supported other non-profits including San Diego Humane Society, Warrior Foundation and InterFaith.
Frances was a proud Rotarian with the Rotary Club of Rancho Bernardo, CA for several years. She was Rotarian of the Year in 2013-2014. After moving to Texas, she joined the Rotary Club of McGregor.
Frances was preceded in death by her parents.
She is survived by her loving husband, Earnie, and Enza, the dog she absolutely adored. Other survivors include her brother and sister-in-law, Everett Jr. and Dorothy Jess; cousin, Anita Easter; step-son, Robert Giles; step-daughter, Teresa Cooper and their spouses; along with five step-grandchildren as well as many, many friends.
Frances bravely fought ovarian cancer for 30 years but in the end could fight no more due to a reoccurrence of her cancer as well additional health issues. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Nine Girls Ask which was near and dear to Frances. It supports ovarian cancer patients and survivors as well as helping to fund research at the University of California San Diego to find a cure for this dreadful disease.
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