Frances Ruth Cox Wimberly Ehrman passed away July 6, 2013 at the age of 91. Born February 22, 1922 in San Diego, California, Frances was the daughter and only child of Ruth Bell and Francis Cox. Frances' great love was ballet, and she excelled in academics too, and was editor of her South Pasadena High School newspaper. She kept close ties with her many friends from high school throughout her lifetime, seeing them often, including her best-since-childhood friend, Jayne Tennant Lehr (SPHS '39).

Frances attended the University of Oregon, working her way through at a Eugene department store as a model and salesperson. She intended to be a librarian but changed her major and received her bachelor's degree in Journalism in 1943. She was chosen for honoraria's including Theta Sigma Chi National Women's Journalism honorary and Phi Theta Upsilon, Junior Women's honorary. She was a member of Pi Beta Phi sorority. Of all her accomplishments of U of O, most meaningful to Frances was her Senior Thesis about Japanese internment camps in America being ethically wrong, a courageous stance at the beginning of World War II.

Frances met Carl 'Bud' Wimberly during their college years and they married during their senior year. Upon their graduations, Bud went into the Army Air Corps, and Frances lived in Los Angeles while Bud was overseas.  At the end of World War II, Fran and Bud moved to Medford, Oregon where their son, Leland was born. After their daughter, Kelly was born, the family moved to Roseburg, Oregon for two years and then returned to Medford. Frances was a beyond-wonderful mother and wife. Her love, generosity, thoughtfulness, sense of fun and positive presence were a true work of art. Her favorite word was 'Joy' and she brought it to everyone, most especially to her adoring children - who, along with so many others, thought of her as always the most fun person with whom one could ever be.

In her three decades in Medford, Fran was very active in a variety of aspects of her community, as well as being lovingly involved with her children's activities. Fran was PTA president and was a Cub Scout and Bluebird troop leader. She was the Junior Service League's first president and she helped to create, then to run, its school for hearing-impaired children. She was on the Ashland Shakespearean Theater's Board of Directors and, among other projects, followed through with her idea of 'a buck a brick' campaign to cover the costs for, instead of cement, the brickwork which is still at the entry of the original Shakespearean Theater. After Bud's death in 1978, Fran continued to live in Medford for three years. In 1980 she reconnected with a William Ehrman, a friend from University of Oregon days and they married in 1981, moving to Hawaii.

Bill and Fran played tennis every day and she also served in her new community of Honolulu doing such things as, Meals on Wheels and helping with the Honolulu Marathons. Bill died in 2005 and after a few years Fran decided she wanted to live in a 'bustling, active, full-of-people retirement community', and moved to one in Arizona.  She often returned to Honolulu to visit her daughter Kelly and to Medford to visit friends and family. Fran was a truly beautiful person inside and out, lighting up countless lives because of her innate generosity of spirit, great sense of fun, boundless thoughtfulness, loving kindness, joyful light, and her always-welcoming-to-everyone open heart. 

Frances is survived by her children, Lee and Kelly; five grandchildren; and several generations of dearly-loved friends.

Mail Tribune, July 27, 2014