FRAN HUNTER
1931–2019

Having lived in places all over the world, Fran knew that Santa Fe was where she wanted to be after coming for a visit. The city that was more like a town had a great climate, clean air, and a cosmopolitan atmosphere. It also helped that she stayed in the poet Witter Binner’s old house with its interconnecting bedrooms and echoes of long-ago wild parties.
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Although moving to Santa Fe from East Texas in 1997 was a considered decision, moving to Sand River Cohousing in 2013 was like waking up and finding herself at the end of a high diving board . . . and jumping.

Fran had become a contented recluse, knew nothing about cohousing, and felt besieged by well-meaning neighbors during her first couple of months. Gradually she found a niche for herself and was grateful for opportunities to contribute to the community and feel herself part of a usually supportive and occasionally fractious extended family. Last but not least, she loved her well-designed, well-insulated, bright and airy home, which both embraced her solitude and enabled togetherness.
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During her time at Sand River, Fran published On the Edge, her memoir as an adult living in England, Zambia, apartheid South Africa, Longview in Texas, and Santa Fe. It includes her social work career and the story of her family. Other works by Fran include Daughter of the Empire, Mary 'Pickhandle' Fitzgerald, and poetry books A Maverick Elation and ​Sesame.

Those left to cherish her memory are her sister Julie, son Alan (Karen), daughters Jocelyn(Neville), Barbara(Vickie) and son Jonathan (Mella), eleven grandchildren, six great grandchildren, and many nephews and nieces, as well as her community of Sand River.

I want to do everything to great excess so I can go out as a legend: She ignored all protocol. When I grow old I want to be free and fetterless. Let them all shrug and then say, "Oh, she's harmless."

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Thanks to Blaire, Elaine, Helene, Jenny, Lorraine, Sandy, and Shari for creating a beautiful container for our gathering, and to all those who participated and witnessed.

PEOPLE

FRIENDS GATHERING

Writers and friends of Fran gathered at Sand River to celebrate her life on the afternoon of 23 June 2019, sharing stories and reading her poetry. At that same time in Newport, Oregon, Fran's family scattered her ashes at Moolack Beach, where an eagle appeared on the sand.

Those who gathered, read, and celebrated, starting top left, are Julia Deisler, Susan McDevitt, Janet Eigner, Jane Lipman, Sandy King, Lonnie Howard, James McGrath, and Daniel Forest. Not pictured are Jim Roghair, Helene Aarons, and Angela Werneke

CELEBRATION OF LIFE
​"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"
—Words of Poet Mary Oliver, who departed on the same day as Fran

THERE BE SERPENTS
You don't have to be forever proving yourself
to make amends for the original sin,
the sin you don't remember
but know—from responses to your waywardness--
is in your genes, is the sin
inherited from far back in the beginning,
from that first fatal disobedience.
You don't have to overcome
your natural wanting to know everything
even all the good and evil in yourself.
You don't have to keep your mind blank
as the new slate as the new slate you brought into the world.
You don't have to stand at the window and stare
from afar at the daunting forest shrouded in darkness.
You can pick up the chalk
you've been given and begin to write.
Go into that forest where frightening things are buried
and find the forbidden tree.
Pick up your chalk now.
See how white it is. It will bring light to the forest
where undiscovered roots and worms wait.
Even as you shudder,
believe that writing your life can change it.
—Frances Hunter (from Sesame, Chimera Press, 2006)