Frances L. Stearns

WILLIMANTIC/MANSFIELD - Frances Larned Stearns, age 95, died peacefully on April 9, 2010. She was born in Willimantic, CT on March 13, 1915. She was the daughter of Benjamin and Mary (MacArthur) Larned and the widow of Ellsworth J. Stearns. Mrs. Stearns graduated from the Hartford Hospital Registered Nursing program in 1937. She did private duty nursing, and in 1940 began working at the Windham Hospital. She became Night Supervisor of Nursing in 1960 and retired in 1980. She loved nursing and had the most beautiful bed-side manner and the softest hands. She lamenated the fact that nursing had changed so there seemed to be no time to give back rubs anymore. Mrs. Stearns was an avid Red Sox fan, and Ted Williams was her "boy". She was so happy to have lived long enough to see the third time the Red Sox won the World Series. She loved to go camping, especially in Vermont. She was well read. She enjoyed Harlequin romances and Louis L' amour westerns. She was hooked on bingo, knitting, crocheting and crossword puzzles. She liked country music, Bing Crosby, Marty Robbins and Perry Mason who-dun-its. She genuinely liked people and had a positive influence on all she met, but modestly believed she did not. Her brothers Robert and Charles Larned, her sister Gladys Cruthers, her daughter Cynthia Milhomme and her son Gordon Adams predeceased her. She leaves two sons, Donald Adams of Chaplin and Jared (Donna) Stearns of Ellington; three daughters, Mary-Ellen Bill, Martha Baker and Wilhelmina Williams, all of Windham; son in-law Raymond Milhomme of Columbia; daughter in-law Lorraine Adams of Grosvenordale. She had sixteen grandchildren, Jared (Courtney) Stearns, Roger (Victoria) Hemingway, Leon (Tracy) Hemingway, Sharon (Dale) Dimmock, Gordon (Muriel) Adams, James, LoriAnn and Donald Adams, Susan Montpelier, Matthew and Janet Baker, Raymond and James Milhomme, Margo Rife, Eric (Tracey) Williams, Benjamin Williams and many great and great-great grandchildren, with a total of five generations. She also leaves many other relatives including brothers-in-law Stedman and Theodore Stearns and many, many friends. Calling hours are Monday from 6-8pm at Potter Funeral Home, 456 Jackson Street, Willimantic and her funeral will be Tuesday at 1pm at Potter Funeral Home followed by burial service at the Mansfield Center Cemetery. Potter Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. For online memorial guestbook, please visit www.potterfuneralhome.com