Frances Jean Marvel

Frances Jean Marvel

Frances Jean Marvel went home to be with Jesus on January 24, 2005, in Mesa, Arizona.

Frances Jean Boyd was born on July 12, 1933, in Ferndale, California. She was raised on Port Acres, a purebred jersey dairy and attended Port Kenyon Elementary school where she was a star pupil and active in 4-H. She graduated from Ferndale High School in 1951 with a lifetime membership in the California Scholarship Federation. Frances was a song queen, a member of the band and choir. She was a gifted musician and played the piano and trumpet. After graduation, Frances completed a two year secretarial course in one year at Humboldt State College.

In 1953 she married her high school sweetheart, Lee Marvel. Frances worked as a stenographer in state and federal offices while Lee was in the US Army and was the Fine and Applied Arts Division secretary at Humboldt State College while Lee attended college. Frances returned to college at Humboldt State and graduated with honors earning a Masters degree in Education and Business while raising her three children. She went on to teach Business, Home Economics, French and Continuation High School at Arcata and McKinleyville High Schools. Frances returned to college to earn another Masters Degree in Library Sciences and finished her career as the High School Librarian at McKinleyville High.

Throughout her career, Frances was active in the American Business Women’s Association winning National Business Woman of the Year for her position as President of Marvel Enterprises and her career in Business Education. Frances was a member of the Exchange Club and very active in the Arcata Nazarene Church, the Willow Creek Nazarene Church and East Valley Nazarene Church in Mesa, Arizona.

Frances loved Lee with true abandon for over 51 years, she was a devoted mother and friend to all three of her children, a magnificent grandmother and a loving aunt. Frances will be remembered fondly for her cooking, her hospitality, her humor, her intelligence, her kind and generous spirit and her love of roses. Frances received many honors over the course of her life but the greatest of all these was calling herself a child of the King. She has gone home to glory and the rest of us are homesick for heaven all the more.

Frances is survived by her husband of 51 years, Lee Marvel; her eldest daughter, Cheryl Rupp and husband Darrell of Morgan, Utah: her daughter, Donna Marvel of San Diego; and her son, John Marvel and wife Kristen of Mesa, Arizona. She is also survived by her sister-in-law, Audrey Boyd; her nieces, Mary Moriarty and her family, Aulanda Garcia and her family, Andrea Fonseca and her daughter, and her nephews, James Boyd and his family, William Boyd and his family, and Fred DeFrancisco and his wife. Frances was proud of her eleven grandchildren. Mathias Rupp and wife, Michelle; Marinda Burt and husband, Brandon; Leeah Rupp, Japeth Rupp, and Josiah Rupp, all residing in Utah. James Marvel and wife, Jacqueline; Frances Jean Marvel II, and Katy Marvel all residing in California. Jared Marvel, Jordan Marvel, and Jonathan Marvel of Mesa, Arizona.

Services will be held on Saturday, January 29, 2005, at 2:30 p.m. at Pierce Mortuary at 7th and H Street in Eureka, California.

Internment will follow at the Ferndale Cemetery and the family will host a reception to celebrate Frances’s life at the Veteran’s Memorial Building on Main Street in Ferndale, California, from 5:00 p.m.- 7:00 p.m.

Visitation will be held at Pierce Mortuary on Friday, January 28, 2005, from 12:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, Frances and family have requested donations be made to Habitat for Humanity, the Eureka Rescue Mission, Hospice or a charity of your choosing.

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