LEWISTON — Frances B. Swanson, died Wednesday, Feb. 23, at Marshwood Nursing Home.

Fran was born in Baileyville, April 5, 1923, and is a graduate of Canton High School, Class of 1941. The daughter of Lemuel Harris and Marcia Gladys (Bryant) Beach; Frances was the 5th of 9 children. The family moved frequently, so she always considered her siblings to be her best friends. Her talent showed itself at an early age after losing most of her hearing due to Scarlet Fever.

She illustrated school newspapers and the 1941 Canton High Year Book. Fran worked in a variety of occupations, but as a photo colorist doing “photo tinting” now almost a lost art, Fran then easily mastered portraiture, worked in pastel, oil, acrylic, gouache, and pen and ink. She taught herself the arts of silkscreen and airbrush, block printing, mould making and casting, antique china restoration.

Fran first married Ronald B. McGrath of Milford, N.H., and had two children, Marcia and Robert; married second, Henry E Swanson of Brockton, Mass., and had four children; Kathryn, Henry, John and Signe. Moving back to Maine in 1988, Fran became a member of the Western Maine Art Group and continued to show her growing body of work.

Fran spent the last few years in the company of her friends at Sarah Frye Nursing Home, Auburn.

Fran is survived by her sisters, Barbara Gurney of Merrimack, N.H., and Beulah Tripp of Tilton, N.H.; brother, Lemuel Jr. of Crossville, Tenn.; her children, Marcia Greene of South Paris, Robert and Alice McGrath of Tilton, N.H., Kathryn and Rusty Gaynor of Hartford, and Henry and Angela Swanson of Harrisburg, Pa.; special sons-in-law, T.J. Kelly of Natick Mass., and Jack Tamulonis of Lincoln, N.H.; daughter-in-law, Julie Swanson of West Paris; 17 grandchildren; and 16 great-grandchildren.

Fran was predeceased by her husbands, Ronald and Henry; and her two youngest children, John Swanson of South Paris and Signe Swanson Tamulonis of Manchester, N.H.

Online condolences may be shared with her family at www.chandlerfunerals.com.