PINE GROVE — It wasn’t until she was 61 years old that Frances H. Raudenbush got her driver’s license. She agreed she’d give it up at age 96.
“Dr. Russell had asked me how I got to the doctor’s office, and I told him I drove myself. He said he thought I had given my license up, and I said my birthday wasn’t until tomorrow,” Frances, now approaching 102, laughed when recalling the encounter a few years ago.
Although she’s no longer behind the wheel, the Pine Grove centenarian has not given up her duties as assistant organist and pianist at St. Peter’s United Church of Christ, Pine Grove. Friends look forward to seeing her each week sitting behind the keyboard. Her positive attitude, musical talent and quick wit are gifts her friends say make her a beloved fixture of their community.
Frances’ contributions were recently highlighted in a television news report by WNEP-TV’s Mike Stevens earlier this month. Pastor Jason Stump had contacted the station about Frances’ years of service, and her video interview has gone nationwide via social media.
“Frances has gone Hollywood,” Stump said, acknowledging Frances’ wonder at all the fuss made over her.
“I’m self-taught,” she said, while practicing “How Great Thou Art” on Thursday at the church. “When I was 8 or 9 years old, I really wanted to play the piano, but we didn’t have one. I pulled a chair up to the window sill, and would pretend I was playing.”
Frances said her grandmother used to have a pipe organ, and she knew where “middle C” was. She began picking out hymns to play written in C, and worked her way up from there.
The organ is her favorite. “With the piano, you strike the keys, but with the organ, you walk across the keys,” she said. Her favorite type of music is semi-classical and church hymns. A requiem arrangement John Rutter wrote for the 23rd Psalm is among her most favored, she said.
Frances was born in Washington Township, Schuylkill County, the oldest of six children of James Wenrich and Luta Brown. She had four brothers and one sister, and today is the only surviving sibling.
Frances lived at the Bethany Home for Children in Wormelsdorf and attended school there through eighth grade. “That’s where I really started playing the organ,” she said.
She was a normal kid, she said, and did what kids are apt do. If there were a pair of shoes she was given that didn’t suit her, for instance, she made sure they didn’t last long.
“We kicked around a can at lunchtime to wear out the shoes we didn’t like,” Frances recalled.
As Frances’ talent at the keyboard grew, so did her academic interests. Teachers quickly became aware of her acumen. Due to scoring well academically, Frances and two other students in her class were moved from sixth to eighth grade, skipping seventh.
“You lose important things when you do that. I never wanted my kids to skip a grade. I was never good at fractions, and I think it was because of that,” Frances said.
She graduated from Wormelsdorf High School in 1931.
Frances worked in the garment industry in Schuylkill Haven and later retired from Fox Knapp, Pine Grove. She and her late husband, Harry Raudenbush, a coal miner, had three children, Eileen, Leonard and Roland. Today, she has eight living grandchildren, six great-grand children, and two great-great-grandchildren. Two of her grandchildren have passed away. Frances lived in Friedensburg and moved to Stone Ridge Retirement Living Community/Schoolyard Square in Pine Grove last fall.
Brandy Schneck, 25, said she and Frances formed a special friendship when she started going back to church, returning to Pine Grove from Hummelstown a little more than a year ago. She had known Frances as the piano player at her church, and said the pair became close after she showed her concern when Frances was hospitalized.
Schneck said she asked the former pastor, Autumn Hardenstine, how Frances was doing and the pastor suggested she give Frances a call directly.
“I talked to her on the phone, and she was glad I called. The next time I saw her in church, I went up to the piano and told her, ‘Now you can match a name with a face.’ ”
The two ladies quickly bonded. Schneck would visit Frances at her home in Friedensburg, and later visited her when she moved to the personal care home. Schneck tries to visit at least once a week, in addition to seeing Frances on Sundays at church.
Schneck takes her 15-month-old niece to visit with Frances, too. “I think she’s her favorite,” Schneck said.
“She’s one of the most loving people I’ve ever met,” Schneck said. “She’s willing to be there to help anyone and has a positive outlook. Even if it’s something bad, she can find the positive in it.”
Schneck asked Frances about her recent television appearance. “She told me she was nervous for about two minutes, then she just did what she always does.”
Schneck, who plans to spend some time with Frances on her 102nd birthday, April 18, appreciates the advice Frances offers. “She tells me to find something I’m passionate about, and to go to God for the answers when I can’t find them,” Schneck said.
Kristine Tobias has known Frances for years from attending church and since Frances moved to Schoolyard Square.
“Just from conversations you have with her, by her responses and wittiness, you can tell she’s on top of everything,” Tobias, personal care home administrator for Schoolyard Square, said.
“She’s comical and she’s her own person,” Tobias said.
There is a piano in the dining room area of the personal care home, and Tobias asked Frances if she’d be willing to play during the 2015 Christmas dinner. “She was ready for it,” Tobias said, noting Frances was prepared to play several selections that day.
“She’s proud of her heritage, and her town. She has pictures up of her family, her children and grandchildren. She has her crocheting and embroidery, and her room is very homey and welcoming,” Tobias said.
Before Frances entered the assisted living facility, she was given a cognitive test. She said she answered a series of questions, and was told she did wonderfully well. “When they asked me to write a sentence, you know what I wrote? ‘This is silly.’ ” What she wrote was correct; she even remembered to put a capital at the beginning of the sentence and a period at the end.
Frances said she tries to keep her mind sharp. “I love to do puzzles. I watch the ‘Chain Reaction’ show, because it’s so much fun. I also like ‘Alaska: The Last Frontier.’ ”
Her tip for longevity, “Get out amongst people as much as you can,” she said.
Frances has made an impression on those she meets. Jason Stump, who moved back to the Pine Grove area in November, said the comment his daughter, Kathleen, 13, made about her was pretty telling of Frances’ appeal to many generations. “Frances is usually the first person to talk to me every Sunday,” Kathleen Stump said.
Prior to playing at St. Peter’s United Church of Christ, Frances had served as a member and organist for St. Paul’s United Church of Christ in Ravine for nearly 60 years.
St. Peter’s organist, Carolyn Brander, has shared many memories with Frances.
“We’ve had a lot of fun together over the years and I know she doesn’t want to give it up,” Brander said.
Brander spoke of Frances’ talent and the admiration the congregation and community has for her. “Everyone loves her. I guess that’s why we’re still playing duets,” she said. “She gets along with everyone, but she says it like it is. She’s very outspoken,” Brander said.
According to Brander, Frances in not only a talented musician, but also a talented vocalist. She sang with the Schuylkill County Community Chorus for years, and just gave that up when she turned 100. During Frances’ final choral appearance, she performed as Minnie Pearl, the Grand Ole Opry and Hee Haw country comedian.
Frances said she doesn’t know from where her own sense of humor comes from.
“When I decided to move to Schoolyard Square, I decided I didn’t need to cook or clean my room. I could just take it easy for the rest of my days — at 101,” Frances quipped.