Frances Elizabeth Koepfgen

Notes:

Cass City Chronicle
Wednesday, February 17, 1993

Frances (Koepfgen) Kercher, 67, who graduated from Connecticut College after raising 6 children and then remained on the staff there for 21 years, died Thursday at her home in Waterford, Conn., after a long battle with cancer.

Mrs. Kercher spent most of her career in the admissions office, where she was an assistant director of admissions at the time of her death. She was known for her love of Conneticut College where 4 of her children graduated.

Mrs. Kercher directed the alumni admissions program, in which more than 300 graduates residing throughout the country visit high schools and interview prospective students, and she was in charge of the transfer-student admissions program.

She and her husband, Gerald E. Kercher, were former presidents of the Mr. and Mrs. Republican Club of new London.

Gerald Kercher, a retired Air Force major and a retired broker from Merrill Lynch, New London, said his wife was diagnosed with cencer in 1965 and "she fought it successfully for many years." She had setbacks since 1990, he continued, but she showed remarkable spirit and worked until last December.

Mrs. Kercher was appointed a writer and editorial assistant in 1972 in the Connecticut College new Office, 2 weeks before she received her bachelor's degree in English literature. She later moved from the news office to the admissions office.

Before her marriage, she had completed her freshman years at the University of Michigan. She enrolled for part-time study at Connecticut College in 1967 under the Return to College Program. Upon graduation, she received the American Association of University Women Award, presented by the New London chapter of the association to a member of a graduating class who demonstrates high character, academic excellence and leadership.

Mrs. Kercher was a leading figure in the Connecticut College Alumni Club of Southeastern Connecticut. She and her husband, natives of Cass City, had resided in southeastern Connecticut since 1965.

Mrs. Kercher was born May 23, 1925, in Cass City, the daughter of Lyle and Ersel (Wallace) Koepfgen.

She graduated from Cass City High School in 1943. She and Gerald Kercher were married December 19, 1945, in New York City.

In addition to her husband, she is survived by three sons, Philip J. of Colville, Wash., Andrew C. of Dixon, Calif., and Matthew of Quaker Hill, Conn.,; 3 daughters, Susan K. CHAMIE of Ivoryton, Conn.,; Amanda Kercher of Albany, N.Y., and Caroline THURSTON of Old Saybrook, Conn., and 9 grandchildren.

(Transcribed by Melinda McLemore Strong, February 2008)

Frances married Gerald Frederick Kercher on 19 Dec 1945 in New York City, New York County, New York. Gerald (son of Erwin W. Kercher and Amanda Lillian Muck) was born on 9 Jan 1924 in Cass City, Tuscola County, Michigan; died on 21 Aug 2011 in Quaker Hill, New London County, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Married:
Shown in the Texas Birth Index, on the birth records for her sons, Philip and Andrew, as Frances KEFGEN. The 1946 Issue of the Striffler Benkelman Broadcast, (Volume 9), when reporting their marriage, instead lists her as Frances KOEPFGEN. The 1960 issue of the same periodical, dated September 5, 1960, reported that "The five children of Major and Mrs. Gerald Kercher of Newburg, N.Y. were baptized in the E.U.B. Church in Cass City on July 10. Their grandmother was Amanda Muck."

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