Frances Ann Atchison

1941 - 2019

Frances Ann Atchison February 18, 1941 - December 23, 2019 San Diego Frances Ann Atchison, ne Apen, and formerly Provence, departed life 23 December 2019 at 78, after a day spent enjoying family, eating, drinking, giving and receiving gifts, and love. She was born to Marian Tendick Apen and Joseph Apen (Apecenka) in Peoria Il on 18 February 1941, the second of three children, John and Janet, now all deceased. In the midst of World War II, she, her mother, and siblings, traveled by train to San Diego to live with her maternal grandparents on Arnold Street in North Park. Except for a momentous year spent in Germany, as companion to her army draftee husband in the early 1960s, she spent the rest of her life in San Diego, La Mesa, and Chula Vista. Frannie graduated from Hoover High School and attended City College. She worked at GMAC and for the Cajon Valley School District. She spent the 1970s and 80s raising two sons, Michael, and John, in La Mesa. She was a patient and forbearing mother, and a faithful and reliable friend to many. She attended La Mesa United Church of Christ for many years and made treasured life-long friends, including her second husband, Tom Atchison, among the congregants. She traveled the country and the world with her two husbands, her children, step-children, and grandchildren. She was a fearless and joyful traveler, endlessly curious, and endlessly secure that people were the same in their goodness, wherever she found them. She cared about politics, justice, and the environment. She was happiest socializing with her friends, baking cookies with her grandchildren, and tending her garden. She was a person beloved for her sunny disposition, optimism about the basic decency of all people, her intense dislike of pretense, prejudice, or intolerance, and her trusting nature. She knew she could count on everyone to do the right thing. She was rarely disappointed. A memorial service will take place at Fredericka Manor, Chula Vista at 1:00pm Saturday, 25 January, 2020.