Frances Calder Arnold

Frances Calder Arnold was born in May of 1937 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the daughter of William A. Calder II, a physics and astronomy professor, and Dorathy E. Bruhn, an art teacher.  In 1947, the family moved to Decatur, Georgia.  There, Frances attended high school and later Agnes Scott College where she obtained a degree in sociology and earned a teaching certificate. 

After college, she married the love of her life, Frank Arnold.  Frank's career took them to North Carolina, Florida, Georgia, the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C and, in 1974, Juneau, Alaska.  Juneau was to have been a two-year assignment but lasted almost 30 years, ten of which were in retirement. Once her two sons were past elementary school, Frances took a position with the Juneau city library.

Frances shared her talents generously.  She was active within her church, the Chapel By The Lake, where she volunteered as the gardener.  Frances also helped to launch the local Habitat for Humanity chapter and provided educational/vocational assistance to immigrant families newly arrived in America.  In the 1980's, she spent several weeks in Wuhan, China with a group from the University of Alaska and learned to speak Mandarin Chinese. Her Mandarin fluency earned her several free meals as she was occasionally invited to sit in with functions involving mandarin speakers.  Frances donated to numerous charities and loved the outdoors.  During her decades in Juneau, she became an avid hiker, jogger and biker, opting for any mode of transportation other than driving a car. 

After a final position with the City of Juneau, assisting mothers returning to the workforce, Frances retired in 1991.  Frances and Frank spent a few years traveling around the United States in an RV before finally leaving Alaska for good and moving to Anacortes, Washington to be closer to their sons. Beginning in 2000, Frances and Frank began embarking on long-distance tandem bike rides in Europe and their biking adventures took them to England, the Netherlands, Switzerland, France, Austria, Germany and the nations along the Danube River.  The couple also enjoyed hiking around Anacortes and going on trips with a pop-up camper.  

Within the last decade, Frances and Frank relocated to Seattle to be nearer her two grandsons.  She continued to ride a tandem bike with Frank and was logging 50-mile rides into her early 80's.  In August of 2023, a series of strokes put an end to Frances' active lifestyle, which still included daily walks. Unfortunately, her final months were spent in a nursing home which was not the end she deserved. It did provide time for goodbyes from loved ones prior to her passing on January 22, 2024. Frances is survived by Frank, her husband of 66 years, her sons Robert and David, and her grandsons William and Allen.