Dr. Frances Flanagan ’35 passed away on May 13, 2016, just three days shy of her 101st birthday.
Dr. Flanagan, a native of Easton, Missouri, graduated from the St. Joseph Junior College in 1935 and earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Mount St. Scholastica College, now Benedictine College,
Dr. Frances Flanagan ’35
in Atchison, Kansas. She earned her master’s and doctorate from the University of Iowa in Iowa City.
Dr. Flanagan was an elementary teacher in the St. Joseph School District, and is fondly remembered by many of her students.
She joined the faculty of the St. Joseph Junior College in 1963. She taught English at the Junior College and Missouri Western, serving for six years as department chair. She retired in 1980.
In 1982, Dr. M.O. Looney, Missouri Western’s president from 1967-1983, asked the professor emerita of English to research and write Missouri Western’s history, covering 1915 to 1983. She was given just nine months to complete the task. The result was “Missouri Western State College: A History 1915-1983,” which serves as an invaluable reference book to this day.
As part of the Centennial, Dr. Flanagan’s book was formatted for Kindle and is also available online on the University’s website.
On May 16, 2015, Dr. Flanagan celebrated her 100th birthday. Also in 2015, she self-published a book of photos from her more than 30 years of world travel. Dr. Flanagan visited spots all over much of the globe, capturing interesting angles and beautiful images of sights and people. She preserved her favorite photos in a book she titled “Art Along the Way.” The book contains more than 50 full-color photos, accompanied by statements that help the reader see the world as she saw it.
One of the photos from her book that was taken in Greece, “Through the Shadowed Passage,” was featured in the Centennial alumni art exhibit in the Potter Hall Art Gallery in 2015.
Missouri Western’s history book authored by Dr. Frances Flanagan ’35.
Dr. Flanagan received the Missouri Western Distinguished Alumni Award in 1988, and in 2015, the YWCA recognized her with a Women of Excellence Lifetime Achievement Award.
She was an active member of St. Francis Xavier Church in St. Joseph. She researched and wrote the church’s history and she also wrote a number of prayers for the parish.
On a personal note, I met Dr. Flanagan in 2011 when we videoed her for Missouri Western’s Centennial video. Off and on since then, I visited with her about different Centennial-related projects, and I was very happy for the opportunity to get to know her.
Dr. Flanagan was very intelligent and had a wonderful sense of humor. Just a few weeks before she died, Dr. Flanagan quoted Shakespeare to me to make a point. She was an English teacher to the end!
Dr. Flanagan is survived by two brothers and their spouses, several nieces and nephews and great-nieces and great-nephews.
She was such an inspiration to me, and I know many, many people who feel the same way. Dr. Flanagan touched a lot of lives in her 100 years, and she is missed by those who knew her.
Diane Holtz, Editor