Frances L. Howard

Frances L. Whitson Cecil Howard, 93, entered eternal rest Thursday, Feb. 3, 2022. She was raised in Johnson City, Tenn., before moving with her family to Louisville when she was 18. Frances was a wonderful mother, homemaker and friend. She was a talented seamstress who enjoyed making clothes for her children, as well as garments for the monks at nearby Gethsemani Monastery.
She was preceded in death by her first husband, Joseph Carl "J.C" Cecil; her second husband, Joseph R. "Nick" Howard; her parents, Louis and Kate Whitson; siblings, Louis Jr., Earl, Eugene, Niles and Douglas Whitson and Elizabeth Garivey; and a granddaughter, Jaclyn Hoehler.
She is survived by her children Janet (Stephen) Hoehler, Pat Greenwell Bronger, Karen Downs, Ronnie Cecil, and Joe Ed (Janie) Cecil; grandchildren, Kenneth, Jeffrey and Mark Hoehler, Shannon Kemplin, Troy Downs, Jessica Kaelin and Nicholas Cecil; 16 great-grandchildren; one great-great- granddaughter; many nieces and nephews; and her devoted caregivers, Beverly Lewis, Billie Aldridge and Sarah McMakin.
Visitation will be 10 a.m.-noon Saturday, Feb. 12, at Mattingly Funeral Home in Loretto. Burial will follow at 12:30 p.m. at Holy Cross Cemetery.
Mattingly Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.