Individual 3: Miller, Frances Dorthea (Fran)

Individual Record 3

Name} Miller, Frances Dorthea (Fran)

Family History} Olson

Title}

Race} White

Sex} Female

Birth: Date} Exa 24 Sep 1923

Place} Perth Amboy, Middlesex, New Jersey

Marr.: Date} Exa 1 Oct 1944 M

Place} First Presbyterian Church, Alhambra, Los Angeles, CA (Link)

Death: Date} Exa 6 Jan 2013

Place} Pomona Valley Hospital, Pomona, Los Angeles, California

Burial: Date} Exa 12 Jan 2013

Place} Rose Hills Memorial Park, Whittier, Los Angeles, California

Grave Marker}

Source 1}	1 = Own knowledg
Source 2}	2 = Own knowledg
Source 3}	12 = Interview
Source 4}	52 = Interview
Source 5}	630 = Photograph
Source 6}	665 = Photograph
Source 7}	749 = 1930 USA cen
Source 8}	1249=Photograph
Source 9}	1334=1940 USA cen
Source 10}	132 = Invitation
Source 11}	1243=Newspaper
Source 12}	1257=Letter

Parents: } Peter John Miller & Evelyn Mae Baldwin
Relationship No.} 3

1st Household No.} 259 = Atlanta, Fulton, Georgia

Occupation 1} Housewife
Occupation 2} Musician

Religion/Church} Presbyterian/Methodist

Spouses: Prime} Olson, Donald Keith (Don)
Total Number of} 1

Source 13} 3 = Birth certif
Source 14} 671 = Photograph
Source 15} 134 = Photograph
Source 16} 326 = Phone book
Source 17} 559 = Newspaper
Source 18} 327 = Phone book
Source 19} 470 = Interview
Source 20} 161 = Photograph

Source 21} 328 = Phone book
Source 22} 610 = Newspaper
Source 23} 621 = Land deed
Source 24} 668 = Cookbook
Source 25} 673 = Photograph
Source 26} 473 = Invitation
Source 27} 1004=Index
Source 28} 450 = Invitation

Source 29} 455 = Obituary
Source 31} 1332=Photograph
Source 31} 1335=Funeral rec
Source 32} 1094=Cemetery rec
Source 33} 1430=Marriage rec
Source 34} 2114=1950 USA cen

Notes: Frances Dorthea Miller (Fran) was born 24 Sep 1923 in Perth Amboy, Middlesex, New Jersey. Her parents were Peter John Miller and Evelyn Mae Baldwin. She was named after her two grandmothers. She had two older brothers: John Leslie (Jack) born in 1919 and Robert Alfred (Bob) born in 1921. Her two younger brothers were born in 1926 and 1929, all in Perth Amboy.

In the 1930 U.S. census, Fran's father was an inmate in the U.S. Federal Penitentiary, Alanta, Georgia, and the family moved to Atlanta, Georgia for one year. Fran spent the 1st grade here. Returning to Perth Amboy, her family moved almost every year, usually living in houses, but sometimes in small flats over store shops. On 5 Oct 1935, the family left for California by the southern route, traveling in a Model A as seen above. They settled in Wilmar (now Rosemead) on Stevens Street. Her only sister was born several years later.

Fran attended 7th through 12th grades at Alhambra High School, graduating in 1941. She was the winner of a Parent-Teacher Association scholarship award for maintaining the highest scholastic average of the girls in her class. Additionally she won a $600 music scholarship to the University of Redlands located in Redlands, California.

Fran attended the University of Redlands as a music major for one year before she had to interupt her studies to earn money. She became a riveter during WWII (1942-43) for Douglas Aircraft, Long Beach, California, working on B-17 (Flying Fortress) aircraft. She returned to Redlands to complete her second year of studies. She was a member of Kappa Pi Zeta.

Fran was a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Alhambra. She joined the church choir in late 1940, singing soprano. The choir is where she met her future husband, Donald Olson. In later years she sang for funerals and weddings. She left the Alhambra choir in 1973 or 1974 to sing with the Pasadena Congregational Church choir. One Palm Sunday, she was a soloist with the Alhambra Civic Chorus in Theodore DuBois' Lenten cantata, "The Seven Last Words of Christ". In 1997, she began singing with the Claremont Methodist choir. She also learned to play the organ, and had a pipe organ built for their Mt. Baldy home.

Fran married Donald Keith Olson on 1 Oct 1944 in the First Presbyterian Church of Alhambra, seen at right. She and Don had 7 children, 16 grandchildren, and by 2005, 10 great-grandchildren. As the family was growing up they lived at 420 N. Second Street, in Alhambra. When the children were older, Fran returned to college, earning her bachelor's degree in Sociology at California State University, Los Angeles in 1971. She started work on her masters degree, but the statistics course was a sticking point. She returned to a major in music. She was the only one of her siblings to go through college. She abandoned her studies when she and Don began to build a home at Mt. Baldy.

In 1980, Fran and Don "retired" to the home they had built on their Mt. Baldy property. Over the years, Fran canned or froze many a pear, apple, and peach. She was also proficient in needlepoint, and grew many varieties of Iris at Mt. Baldy, as seen at right. She tried to walk daily, weather permitting, and enjoyed working jigsaw puzzles. She was a member of P.E.O. for about 45 years. Don died 3 Mar 1996. In Sep 2004, she retired from the mountains, moving into a condo on a golf course in Upland. In Dec 2004 the Olson family Christmas was celebrated there. However, Fran eventually returned to Mt. Baldy for a short time, renting a stone cabin on Bear Drive.

Finally, Fran retired from the mountains, to a one bedroom apartment in Claremont. In Nov 2012, she underwent open-heart surgery to replace her aortic valve. Complications followed, and she died 6 Jan 2013 in Pomona Valley Hospital, Pomona, California. She was buried next to her husband in Rose Hills Memorial Park, Whittier, California on 12 Jan 2013. A Celebration of Life service was held 13 Jan 2013 at the Claremont United Methodist Church in Claremont, California.