Frances Carolyn Holand was the first and only child of a Lutheran minister, Clifford Holand, and his wife, Jessie Simpson Holand. Born in Queens, NYC, by the age of four, her father had his second pastorship at St. Paul’s in Santa Monica, CA. As a young girl, Frances loved riding horses and always had a dog. As a teen, she was quite “starstruck” and collected signatures of famous stars at the gates of the big studios. Later, that fascination extended to ballet, in which Bolshoi-trained Osipova and Vasiliev were favorites!
Originally she took an elementary education credential and taught on the east coast and in the Los Angeles area. She also did a year in Peru, and in Las Palmas, Canary Islands. She returned for a master’s in religious studies at the New York Theological Seminary, and eventually another in English, leading her to teach at the college level where she began to develop courses in women’s literature. In 1987, Fran opened a bookstore in Claremont, CA—Wild Iris Bookstore—in which she focused on presenting “herstory” featuring women writers with a multicultural emphasis and highlighted non-sexist children’s literature.
Fran semi-retired in 1992 and followed friends to Albuquerque, NM where she tutored a bit, and immersed herself in the art and culture of indigenous tribes. In the later 1990s, she returned to the Los Angeles area and became deeply involved with the First Congregational Church of Long Beach, UCC. In this community, Fran developed, with a group of women friends, a spiritually-focused book group that left an impact on all the members. In First Congregational, she had landed home.
Fran’s last decade required dealing with health issues, but she saw her home as Long Beach, had dear friends, and wanted to remain until she could “join God.” And she did.
