Mary F. French

Mary F. French, passed away on March 19, 2009 at Redlands Community Hospital from natural causes. Mary was born February 27, 1920 in Higgensville, Missouri to Virgil & Elpha Rhodes. She graduated from Kansas University with an RN diploma in 1944. Mary moved to California with her family in 1957 and to Redlands in 1969. She and her husband built Brookside Convalescent Hospital in 1970 and she was Director of Nurses until they sold it in 1975. She retired from San Bernardino Community Hospital in 1985. She continued to work at various Convalescent Hospitals in the area including Del Rosa Villa in San Bernardino until she was 80, in 2000. She enjoyed her grandchildren, great grandchildren, traveling to Hawaii, reading, sewing and all types of music, especially Big Band and Dixie Land Jazz. She was preceded in death by her son, Robert A. French Jr. She is survived by her daughter & son-in-law, Joyce and John Shields of Redlands; son & daughter-in-law, James V. & Evila French of Vinita, Oklahoma; sister, Chrystal Morgan of Tulsa, Oklahoma; sister and brother-in-law, Juanita & Tom Board; 3 nieces; 3 nephews; 8 grandchildren; and 22 great grandchildren. She was a loving and caring professional as well as mother and grandmother. We will all miss her dearly. Graveside Service will be held at Hillside Memorial Park in Redlands on April 9, 2009 at 11:30am followed by a reception at Post 106, American Legion in Redlands, CA.