Frances R Houle

Frances “Franni” Rose Houle of Houston, Texas passed away on December 11, 2024, at the age of 80. She was born August 6, 1944, in Littleton, New Hampshire. She grew up in a close-knit Catholic family, in a corner house on School Street, with her older siblings Billy and Patty, and younger sister Irene.

After graduating from Littleton High School, Fran moved to Carbondale, Illinois, where her older sister and brother-in-law were attending college. Fran received her undergraduate degree from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. She was a member of the Newman Foundation at SIU. Fran joined and participated in Model United Nations, and by 1966 she was on the Model United Nations Steering Committee. She met her husband James K.V. Adams at Model UN.

After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts, she entered one of the first Peace Corps groups in Chad, Africa, with James (Jim). They not only volunteered with the Peace Corps in Chad, they also traveled extensively throughout West Africa, with memorable adventures in Niger, Nigeria, and Cameroon. She and Jim brought back 2 hedgehogs from Africa that they ultimately donated to the St. Louis Zoo.

Fran and Jim had their daughter, Arwen Adams (now Podesta) in 1970 in St. Louis, Missouri. They lived in Carbondale surrounded by friends and family. She completed her Master of Arts in English as a Second Language in 1974. She always had a passion for language and teaching, and her next decades would be spent teaching ESL.

In 1975 Fran and Jim divorced. Fran and Arwen then moved to Tennessee, and later to Houston, Texas, where she lived for the remainder of her life. Throughout her life in Houston, Fran was very involved in Houston International Folk Dance (HIFD) and had a wealth of interesting friends and activities. She enjoyed learning about different cultures through dance, song and fellowship, and performing and participating in cultural activities and fairs that aligned with HIFD’s mission of promoting peace among all ethnicities.

She was a loyal and dedicated friend for life, maintaining ongoing at least monthly phone then Zoom visits with her dear friends from college, Ruth and Pam. She stayed close with her family, especially her sisters, Irene and Pat, and cousins, Pat, Kathy and Jean.

In her teaching years she was an active member of TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages) and other similar organizations. She hosted international foreign exchange students when Arwen was in high school.

Fran was an avid and studious reader for her entire life, pulling equally from fiction (especially cultural fiction) and non-fiction. Some of her favorite authors were Barbara Kingsolver and Toni Morrison.

Fran took pride in her French and French-Canadian roots. She spoke French since childhood, later learned Spanish, and picked up tidbits of other languages along the way, including a little Kanembu in Chad. She glowed when talking about the enormity of her maternal family, the Bergeron’s, a clan boasting over 50 first cousins. The family always remained close and had get-togethers and reunions regularly. Fran’s last trip away from Houston was in 2022 when she traveled with her sister Irene to a Boston and Cape Cod reunion of a number of their female cousins.

She is preceded in death by her parents, William J. Houle and Frances Bergeron Houle; her brother William (Billy) L. Houle, and her sister, Patricia M. Houle Bare.

She is survived by her daughter, Arwen Adams Podesta, her sister, Irene Houle Araneda, and cousins and nieces and nephews.

The family would like to thank Giselle Miller for the care, friendship and compassion she showed Fran in her final years.

Family and friends are invited to attend a Memorial which will be held in the spring in Houston, Texas. Date and location TBD.

In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation in her honor to Houston International Folk Dance https://www.folkdancers.org/ or Houston’s Nature Discovery Center https://naturediscoverycenter.org/