Fran lives in North Canton, OH, with her husband of over 35 years, Tom, who is a programmer at a small manufacturing company. They have two married children. Krista and husband Justin currently live in College Station, TX with Maren and Jesse. Michael and Kay live near by in North Canton with their children Gabriel and Sarah. In her personal time Fran enjoys Bible study, photography, reading, outings with the family, and creative projects such as card making, beading, and knitting.
One of her favorite scriptures is Romans 9:17, "I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth."
Tom and Fran enjoy doing home improvement projects (Tom does the work, Fran provides the food and encouragement), music, and creative projects. They both have a sincere heart for encouraging others to grow in relationship with Jesus Christ. Canton First Friends Church is their church home. They host a Bluegrass Jam life group at their home each month. They have gone on a Mission Bridge Ministries mission trip to Fiji in 2005 and 2007. Fran and Tom view these experiences as a part of 'life as ministry.'
Personal Testimony
When I was growing up my family attended a mainline denominational church where a lot was said about doing good, but not much was said about a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I was about 16 before I learned that Jesus had died on the cross to pay the penalty that I deserved for my own wrongdoing. At 16, I had lived long enough to realize that I did wrong things and did not have the power to be good enough on my own. When an invitation was given to receive God’s gift of salvation through receiving Christ as my personal Savior and Lord, I quietly said that prayer to God right where I sat. A few months later at a youth conference I dedicated my whole life to serving God.
From that time I was eager to learn and to be with my new Christian friends. When I went to nursing school I heard that nurses should be sensitive to a person's spiritual as well as their emotional and physical needs. Unfortunately, there was no teaching in how to do that. I graduated from nursing school knowing that I wanted to use nursing to serve the Lord, and to find out how that could be done.
Nursing jobs, establishing a marriage and home with children, teaching Sunday School, children's ministry, running our local church camp program, youth ministry, and the busyness of life filled the next years. When both of our children were in school all day and we were looking at the prospect of sending them to Christian school, the ideas of teaching nursing and going to graduate school emerged. I had a clear sense that God would be able to use me in the lives of nursing students while I was also helping to provide for the needs for my family.
It was not until years later, right after I started teaching at Aultman Hospital, that I found the book Spiritual Care: The Nurse's Role by Fish and Shelly at a local Christian bookstore. There was only one copy, but I felt that it had been placed there just for me. It was such a joy to learn that there were other Christians in nursing and that they had already figured out ways to integrate their faith and their nursing practice!
I integrated what I'd read and started teaching spiritual care within the curriculum at the nursing school; and much of my master's education focused on spiritual needs and ways to address them by means of the nursing process. However, it was still many years before I actually got to interact in person with other nurses through NCF.
I thank God that I can see His hand on my life, and for His guidance and wisdom. I know that while I do have some gifts and skills, I also have many weaknesses and I cannot do this ministry on my own. I want to always keep in my mind and heart that this is HIS ministry. I want to be available so that He can use me to touch the hearts of nurses, and not the other way around.
Fran says, "What makes NCF most distinct as a ministry is the fact that it is uniquely equipped to help nurses, students, and faculty consider what it means for Christ to be Lord of their academic studies and nursing careers, as well as Lord of their lives."
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