4 minute read
Finding Happiness in History
Denise and Gerald (Jerry) Francis are quite the power couple, powered by a love of history. The two history buffs met in a college library more than 50 years ago. They’ve spent their lives volunteering with various non-profit organizations and sharing a love of research, writing and service to the community.
Jerry moved to the health care area at Masonic Village at Lafayette Hill in late August 2021, and Denise moved to campus in October. Jerry has since joined his wife in retirement living.
JERRY FRANCIS
Jerry, a retired business executive in the information technology industry, spent 22 years as president of the Lower Merion Historical Society. The award-winning historian has authored, co-authored or edited more than 15 books about the area, including “The First 200 Years: The Lower Merion Society for the Detection and Prosecution of Horse Thieves and the Recovery of Stolen Horses” (2017) and “Lower Merion and Narberth.” (2010)
Jerry has given more than 200 lectures and television interviews. He has actively participated in various historic preservation projects, including the Cynwyd Train Station revitalization project (2007-2014) and the Cynwyd Heritage Trail. He also was a tour guide at Woodford Mansion, a historic mansion in Fairmount Park, among other volunteer efforts too numerous to list.
Due to his tremendous accomplishments, Jerry has received several awards through the Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) of Montgomery and Delaware counties, including the President’s Gold Volunteer Service Award. He received the President’s Lifetime Volunteer Award (2014) for volunteering more than 14,000 hours since 2002. He even received a citation from former President Barack Obama.
“I love history. It’s in my blood,” Jerry said. “I grew up in a family that enjoyed and appreciated history. I try to make history real, not retell the same story again and again.
“My wife is very helpful. A [former] archivist, she helps me find and dig up facts — the lost history you don’t write about. There is a lot of misinformation out there. I tell the story the way it really is. This has made my lectures very popular.”
Jerry earned a bachelor’s degree in social science and a master’s degree in library science from Villanova University. That’s where he met Denise, as they were both graduate assistants in the library. They went on to marry and have three children. After many years working with computers and forming his own computer company, Jerry decided to retire — at least from his full-time job.
“I spent all this time working hard because I HAD to, and now I wanted to do what I LIKED to do, which is teaching and speaking about history,” he said.
He joined the Lower Merion Historical Society and the rest is, well, history. He hopes to return to volunteering in some capacity after he completely recovers.
“They are doing a wonderful job here [with me] at Masonic Village,” he said. “I shouldn’t just be left in a room to sleep and do nothing. I can be made productive again. Masonic Village has given me the opportunity to recover and reinvent myself, so that in the future, I can get back to doing what I like to do.”
One of those activities is Freemasonry. Jerry is a member of St. Alban Lodge No. 529 in Philadelphia. A group of his retired friends decided to join the fraternity several years ago.
“I’m a fairly new Mason, but I was very much involved,” he said. “Our lodge adopted Masonic Village at Lafayette Hill. We used to come here and entertain the [residents]. One year, I was Santa Claus, going through the corridors caroling. I never thought I’d be a patient here. Everything comes full circle.”
DENISE FRANCIS
Denise, who grew up in Massachusetts, spent nearly 17 years as a reference librarian for the Lower Merion Township System/Bala Cynwyd Library before retiring in 2000. She earned her bachelor’s degree in history from Merrimack College in Massachusetts and her master’s degree in library science from Villanova. Like Jerry, Denise is a tour guide at the Historic Houses of Fairmount Park, where she was trained by staff from the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Denise has been working for more than a decade on a genealogy project involving her and Jerry’s family histories. She became interested in genealogy when she visited Belgium with her sister. Her grandparents came from there many years ago.
“We went to the villages they came from and started seeing where they lived, and when I returned home, I started going to the library and doing research,” she said. “I found information dating back to 1795. Off and on, it took about 15 years to complete. After doing my own family history, my husband wanted me to do his. It has been taking a lot longer to do his than mine. His family only came from western Pennsylvania, but the records are harder to find.”
The couple, who have been married for 50 years, enjoy having shared interests and taking “themed” vacations involving history. In 2009, they traveled from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh for the 250th anniversary of the French and Indian Wars, stopping at various forts along the way.
Denise said it’s important for people to learn about history, or they are doomed to repeat it.
“Unfortunately, they don’t teach history in schools like they used to,” she said. “People have an idea history is just names and dates, but it’s more than that. I can tell you exactly what’s going on in the world now, and how it mirrors what went on 80 years ago. History tends to repeat itself. Unfortunately, people don’t always learn by it.”
