Frances M. Salminen

Our mother, Frances M. (Bechan) Salminen, gracefully left this world on Saturday evening, March 3, 2012, in the home that she and our Dad built and where we were raised. She was 82 years old. She was an amazing woman that lived her Catholic faith, always doing the things that needed to be done; maintaining her independence to the end. She was born on July 20th, 1929, months before the start of the great depression, an event which shaped her thinking about living simply and within one's means.

Mom was the oldest of several children, born into a large extended family of Czech immigrants in Oakham. She always loved and honored her heritage, while exemplifying what it means to be an American. She took a lifelong interest in her Czech heritage, sending gifts to relatives in Czechoslovakia during the Soviet occupation, arranging for relatives to visit here, visiting Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic herself, and inspiring others in her family to visit as well.

She was a graduate of Barre High School (Class of '47). The return of the GI's at the end of World War II precluded her from attending college, but she never missed a beat, turning her attention to family and work. She met our father at a Halloween party in 1950, and they married the following spring. They settled in Oakham where they shared 50 years of marriage until our Father's death in 2002.

She completed 30 years of Federal Service, primarily with the Social Security Administration, and prior to that with the Veterans Administration in Rutland. She also worked for several years at Harrington Richardson Company in Worcester.

Mom and Dad always took care of themselves, and those in need around them. They were an inspiration and a model to us, and we will miss them more than we know.

Frances leaves behind two daughters, Lynda Simeone and Ann Salminen and her husband John Busch; a son, Ed Salminen and his wife Robin Cunningham; grandchildren, Jeff Simeone and his wife Audrey, Jen Simeone, and Madeline Salminen-Cunningham; three sisters, Mildred Jacques, Phyllis Phoenix, Valena Fontaine; a brother, Richard Bechan and his wife Barbara; thirteen nieces and nephews; and more friends than we can count. She was preceded in death by her husband, William Salminen; son Frederick Salminen; son-in-law Mike Simeone, and eight brothers- and sisters-in-law.

Calling hours will be held on Wednesday, March 7, 2012 from 4-7 PM in Pillsbury Funeral Home, 44 Gilbert St., North Brookfield. The funeral Mass will be held on Thursday at 10:00 AM in St. Joseph's Church, 296 Main St., N. Brookfield. Burial will be in South Cemetery in Oakham.

In lieu of flowers or other gifts, the family requests that remembrances be made through donations to the Oakham Historical Association, PO Box 236, Oakham, MA 01068, the Oakham Council on Aging, 2 Coldbrook Rd. #6, Oakham, MA 01068, or The Carter Center

(cartercenter.org)

To share a memory or offer a condolence please visit:

Pillsburyfuneralhome.com