Frances Simcoe

Frances Angela Simcoe died Sunday, April 13, 2014, of natural causes, at Good Samaritan Medical Center in Lafayette, Colorado. She was 98 years old. Born Frances Angela Frisino in Kane, Pennsylvania, she left for sunny, southern California not long after graduating high school, and was eventually joined by most of her family. For years she worked in a pharmacy in Torrance, California, and through a fellow employee, met her future husband, John Douglas Simcoe. They were married March 25, 1951. They moved to Boulder, Colorado in 1961 where she lived for fifty years. For many years, she and husband "Doug" ran restaurants in the Boulder area, including Bennett's on University Hill, and The Empire Room in the Boulderado Hotel. Renowned for her cooking skills, she also served as surrogate mother to many staff and friends who came to know and love her over the years. After "retiring" from the rigors of restaurant life, she continued to work in various retail jobs into her late seventies. In the course of her long life she acquired many friends and acquaintances who came to admire deeply her kindness, positive attitude, grace, energy, and selflessness. Her primary dedication was to love and care for her family, but she also loved animals (domestic and wild), ceramics, her friends, personal conversation, and experimenting with recipes. She was preceded in death by her husband, three brothers and a sister. She is survived by her son, Frank Simcoe of Lafayette, Colorado, numerous nieces and nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews, great, great grandnieces and great, great grandnephews, and a great, great, great grandniece, as well as a wonderful extended family. There will be a gathering of remembrance and celebration of her life on Saturday, May 3, 2014, at her home at 360 Fern Lake Court, in Lafayette, Colorado. Call 303-817-4793 for details. In lieu of flowers, interested parties may make a contribution to the charity of their choice.