Birthdays are always worth celebrating, but 100 is such a huge milestone that it deserves extra special honor. Mark’s Aunt Frances, his dad’s sister and only sibling remaining, turned 100 years old on January 12. We went to Blue Ridge to celebrate with Mark’s extended family and I took a few photos to commemorate the day, so I hope you enjoy seeing this beautiful milestone of a life well lived. Aunt Frances is a beautiful lady, she still lives by herself in her house, with her daughter and grandchildren just a short distance away.
Mark’s Aunt Frances & two of his girls.
Mark is going to tell you all about his Aunt Frances in his own words:
Mark adores his Aunt Frances and regularly calls her to catch up and check on her. She’s always glad to hear from him and listen to their conversations. We go up to Blue Ridge a couple of times a year to see her and before Mark’s mom passed away last year, we took her with us on a few occasions. Their family is close and it’s always fun to listen in on the conversations, which remind me so much of my own family tightness. It’s so hard to see this generation come to an end and we savor the moments with them. My own senior family members are leaving us one at a time and there are only 2 brothers left in my mom’s family and none left in my dad’s. He was the last one of his family of 10 children to pass away last year. We’re coming up on the one year anniversary of dad’s passing, February 6th.
Aunt Frances is a joy to be around. She’s positive and happy, grateful for life and her family and she’s still very active, with a computer she gets on daily. She’s a blessing and it’s so amazing that she just turned 100. Her own dad lived to be 100 as well and that’s truly amazing. Mark was sharing pictures with her on his phone and this one caught her attention. I did an AI version of myself of a holiday fancy dressed photo that many did during the Christmas holidays. You probably saw it with red and white and a lollipop in the photo. When I did that picture, Mark said, do one of me with hair, so I did and it put both of us in the picture, see it below. Mark has been showing everyone that picture and getting a good laugh out of it! He hasn’t had hair for a long time and after he lost it all on the top, began shaving his head many years ago. I don’t mind a bald head myself!
So here’s the AI version of Mark and me in a snowy rustic scene outside. Isn’t that funny? It made us both look younger and better, but it’s amazing that AI can do these days. I still don’t do much with it, but doctoring pictures is pretty hysterical. I did this in Chat GPT. It sure made Aunt Frances laugh!
She was looking at me and I was snapping away.
She got a kick out of seeing Mark with hair again.
Her family celebrated so well with this collage of Aunt Frances in her younger years. She’s was and is a beautiful lady.
Happy Birthday banner.
And a gorgeous cake decorated for 100. We had delicious soup for lunch and then cut this beautiful cake. Aunt Frances blew out the one candle on the cake and then exclaimed that she figured it would be one of those candles that wouldn’t blow out. I got that on video and it was so cute! If you want to see the video, I shared it on Facebook, so head over there and watch it. It’s so cute!
She is such a doll and I’m so glad I’ve gotten to meet her and be around this precious lady. Happy 100th birthday to Aunt Frances, the Birthday Queen. This is Mark and his sister, Linda, with her.
I hope you all enjoyed seeing a peek into Mark’s family and the family he grew up with. It’s been fun to be a part of for me!
What a wonderful tribute to a lovely lady!
Such a gift and Mark’s tribute to her was beautiful! He’s a gem!
What an incredibly lovely tribute to an amazing woman. Wishing Mark’s aunt many more happy years.
How blessed you all are! Such a beautiful lady and a beautiful story of her life.
My Mom lived to 98 and we were also so lucky to have her for so long. A positive attitude is so important for your health and for the well-being of everyone around you!
Happy Birthday, Aunt Frances!!!
Such sweet words from Mark about his memories with his Aunt Frances. She’s still a beautiful lady!
My parents passed to their next life over 20 years ago and I have only three aunts and uncles left. This post made me realize I need to get in touch with them more often. I need to write, text and send pictures to them more frequently and I’ll have you to thank for reminding me to do that.
Thank YOU!
How lucky you are to have such a loving husband who is so devoted to his family. In my opinion that’s much more valuable than a headful of hair! 😉 You chose wisely!
Happy birthday to Frances! She seems like a real treasure.
What a blessing to have such a wonderful, close family. Aunt Frances sounds like a real gem and so are you and Mark and the rest of the family for realizing it. Also got a kick out of seeing Mark with hair!
What a beautiful tribute Mark wrote. His aunt is a true Proverbs 31 woman. What a blessing.
Congratulations to your Aunt. She is lovely. You wrote such a nice tribute to her.
Happy Birthday to your Aunt Frances! What a positive and caring person she is. Wishing her all the best!
This post made me cry. Mark’s heartfelt tribute to his aunt is beautiful. The love is pouring out of every word. Aunt Frances is a beautiful lady and I’m so envious of her hair.
That was great! How blessed is she to have you both! God bless
That tribute Mark wrote of his Aunt Francis made me tear up. It’s one thing to grow old like she has but it’s another to have people in her life who honor her so beautifully as Mark and you do. I’m actually going to save some of his words because they fit my own mother who is now 93 but has a goal of living to 100! (Maybe I’ll get to use them!) Much like your Aunt Francis, she is fiesty, still living independently, uses her tablet daily, is a voracious reader and does puzzles and is always having someone over for a home cooked meal she does herself! And she too is a servant of others….still driving because as she says, “who will pick up all my friends who don’t drive anymore!” Thank you for sharing this lovely post.
PS: I loved the picture of them looking at the cell phone together! And the hair one is classic!
I enjoyed reading Mark’s beautiful tribute to his Aunt Frances. What an exceptional lady of faith and strength.
Mark, what a beautiful tribute to your precious Aunt Frances. How nice that you were both there to celebrate her 100th! She is such a blessing to you both and you are such a blessing to her. May God continue to bless her this year with lots of happiness. Thanks for sharing this special lady with us!