Mary Frances Peden, 84, born in Hillsboro, Ohio on March 27, 1921, died Feb. 6, 2006 in Bothell. She died of natural causes, and with her children by her side.

Fran joined the Armed Services from 1941 to 1945. She was trained as a dental assistant in the WAAC, and after WWII she moved to San Francisco and worked in a dental office there until 1949. She then moved to Laguna Beach, Calif. and after vacationing there, fell in love with the charming seaside artist colony. In Laguna she met and married Thomas Richard Peden, with whom she had two children. Fran later worked for 10 years at the well-known Laguna landmark, the Pottery Shack, as a dinnerware buyer. In 1981 Fran moved with her daughter’s family to Orcas Island, where she enjoyed helping them operate the West Sound Store until 1988. Eventually, Fran moved into the Orcas Longhouse where, over the next 11 years, she made many close friends.

She was a very sincere, humorous, honest, and a truly down-to-earth person. She enjoyed gardening, reading, and doing jigsaw puzzles, and she had a real green thumb when it came to taking care of plants. She took excellent care of her family, and she had a deep compassion for animals. It was very important to her to support her local animal shelter, and she gave donations and her time whenever she could. She believed in the simple things in life, like remembering people’s birthdays, being on time, thanking others, following through with what she said she was going to do, and reading a good mystery novel.

She is survived by her son David Peden; daughter Lynda and son-in-law Craig Sanders, grandchildren, Eli, Scott, Christopher, and Megan Sanders, and sister-in-law Shirley Glenn. Services were held Sunday, Feb. 12, 2006, at the Lutheran Church in the San Juans on Orcas Island.