Joan Frances Wilhelm was born on January 07, 1929, in a two- room adobe cabin at the northeast corner of the orchard at Sacred Heart Academy. Her parents were Frank Leo and Mary Lucille Warren Wilhelm. She was the third daughter in the family followed by a son and another daughter. Her other siblings included Florence, Edna, Harry, and Leora.
Joan was baptized on January 13, 1929, and confirmed on August 27, 1931, at Sacred Heart Church in Waterflow, N.M. The entire state of New Mexico was one diocese, and every five years the bishop would come from Santa Fe and confirm every person who had been baptized. So, Joan was confirmed with her older sisters when she was not yet 3 years old. At the age of 5, she started school at Sacred Heart Academy and was in the same classroom with her sisters, Florence and Edna.
Her family moved to Hereford, Texas, where she graduated from 8th grade. She went to Hereford High School and graduated from there in May 1946.
Joan then wrote a letter to Mother Laurine Sheeran, the Ursuline Superior of Mount Saint Joseph and indicated that she might want to enter the convent. Mother Laurine suggested that she spend six months at Mount Saint Joseph Junior College and enter in February.
She became a postulant on Feb. 01, 1947, and continued her studies at the Junior College. She entered the Novitiate on Aug. 14, 1947, and received the name Sister Frances Mary. Later she became known as Sister Fran. She made her first vows on August 15, 1949. Her first mission was in her own birthplace – Waterflow, N.M. Other missions included: Blanco, N.M., Farmington, N.M., San Fidel, N.M., and New Haven, Ky. She professed final vows on August 15, 1952. Summers were spent studying at St. Joseph College on the Rio Grande in Albuquerque. She graduated in 1975 with a degree in elementary education and a minor in music. Later she majored in music education at Brescia College in Owensboro in the summers.
In 1966, Sister Fran was called to go to Caracas, Venezuela, where she ministered for two years. She then went to Santiago, Chile, where she taught for six years. In 1974, after returning to the U.S., she began work at Charis Missions in La Puente, Calif., and was there for six years. She then moved to Orange County, Calif., to be the coordinator of the Charismatic Renewal in the diocese for three years.
Sister Fran was elected to the leadership team of the Ursuline Sisters and served as a Councilor from 1984 to 1992, During this time, she was also the Director of the Associates and the Jyotiniketan House of Prayer. Many people were inspired through making a retreat with Sister Fran.
She had a dream to establish a center where Spanish-speaking people could celebrate their own culture, worship in their own language, and find a home away from home. With the Bishop’s blessing and the sanction of the pastor and the parish council, she founded Centro Latino in 1993 at the former Catholic School at St. Peter’s Parish in Stanley, Ky. In the year 2000, Centro Latino moved to a house owned by the diocese on Locust Street in Owensboro. Sister Rosemary Keough lived with Sister Fran and they ministered to many people, continuing to provide whatever people needed. In 2018, the two Sisters retired to Mount Saint Joseph and their hearts remained with the people.
Sister Fran shared her gifts with everyone she encountered, whether it was music, dancing, poetry, prayer or storytelling. She lived a lifetime of ministry with and for the poor. She was known as “the Mother Teresa of Owensboro” and a living saint.
Sister Fran, 91, died on Thursday, November 05, 2020, at Mount Saint Joseph, in her 73rd year of religious life. The Funeral Mass was at 10:30 a.m. on Monday, November 9, 2020. Burial was in the convent cemetery.