Frances Guthrie

ALICE FRANCES "FRAN" CALVERT GUTHRIE
(November 8, 1925–November 1, 2022) was born in Newark, New Jersey, to a vaudeville song &
dance performer and then adopted a year later by Ira & Alice Calvert. Frances Calvert grew up in a
buttoned-down, maybe strict, but very loving home in East Orange, N.J. Fran however, had some
spark that wouldn't be repressed. She sang spontaneously. She skipped and danced. She taught
herself to play piano, joined choirs, soloed, and was invited eventually to study with the Metropolitan
Opera Company in NYC. Fran continued her weekly vocal and piano studies at the Met till 1947,
when she graduated from Uppsala College in Newark with majors in English & French and a minor
in Fine Arts. It was expected she would then take her place in the opera company chorus. Fran’s
plans changed, however, when she met a returning GI from Western Pennsylvania.
Fran married Lt. Conrad Pearson Guthrie at an East Orange Congregationalist church in 1949 and
then moved off to DuBois, Pa., where their family grew to include two sons and a daughter.
Fran continued throughout most of her life to solo professionally, and teach piano & voice. She
arranged both liturgical and classical cantatas, held recitals, and performed regionally. She loved
showtunes and one year took the role of Marian the Librarian in a DuBois community theater
production. Conrad's engineering work took them around the Midwest. Wherever they landed, Fran
got active with the local music teachers' association and found an evangelical church they liked. She
also painted landscapes & hand lettered inscriptions. A precision seamstress, she made many of her
own clothes and could match up plaids & pleats as well as the pros. Fran had
several successful runs at selling cosmetics largely due to her skilled makeup demonstrations. She
couldn't balance a checkbook. She loved dogs. Especially any dog. And Fran loved her music
students.
Fran Guthrie passed away peacefully in her sleep at Bristol Park in Conroe, Texas, after a long
decline, seven days short of her 97th birthday. She was predeceased by her husband Conrad and
her grandson Jesus Miguel Martinez. Fran will be remembered fondly by her children Calvert
Guthrie, Conrad Guthrie, and Kristine Guthrie Martinez; her grandchildren Breanna Grissom,
Salvador Martinez, Maria Martinez, Francisco Martinez, Juan Martinez, Rebecca Robertson, Ana
Dubreuil, and Teresa Martinez; and twenty-three great-grandchildren.
A grave side service will be held at Morningside Cemetery in DuBois on Monday, November 7th,
at 1:00 p.m.