Jean Francisco Obituary

Jean Knablein Francisco was born in Erie, Pennsylvania, the eldest child of Jack and Vera (Lininger) Knablein. She died peacefully February 22, 2025, at age 103.

Jean worked for an Erie dermatologist before enlisting in the U.S. Navy as a WAVE (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service.) She served at the Seattle Naval Hospital, where she met Dr. W. David Francisco. They married on the 9th of August, 1947, and made their home in Prairie Village throughout their 58-year marriage. She was a great cook, a generous hostess, a talented seamstress and an avid gardener.

She attended Mercyhurst College in Erie and Drexel Institute of Technology in Philadelphia, and later was motivated to return to school to earn a B.A. in Art History at UMKC.

She and David were charter members of the Village Presbyterian Church and the Society of Fellows at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and enjoyed traveling in the U.S. and abroad.

Jean accompanied David when he served with Health Volunteers Overseas in Eastern Nigeria (Biafra), the Dominican Republic, and twice in Umtata, South Africa.

She is survived by their children: Barbara Francisco and husband Marc Mauer, Kansas State Senator Marci Francisco and husband Joe Bickford, and Dr. David Duke Francisco and wife Kimberley; their four grandchildren: Joanna Mauer and husband Francisco Becerra, Daniel Mauer and wife Shoshana Gitlin, Navy LT Christopher Francisco, and Heather Francisco and husband Issac Ortega; her two great-granddaughters, Nelli Becerra and Melea Maulin, by her sister Kathryn Moon, and by many loving cousins, nieces, and nephews.

Arrangements for services are pending. In lieu of flowers and knowing of Jean's concern for the problem of hunger, the family suggests donations to the Village Church Food Pantry, 9960 Mission Road, Leawood, KS 66206 or Harvesters, 1220 Timberedge Road, Lawrence, KS 66049.