When her friends wanted to visit a historic site, Duffie said OK. She drove.
When philanthropic organizations needed someone with time and money, she said OK. She gave.
When her husband brought home a worn, ragged Civil War uniform, she said nothing. She then went out and —
But that is giving away the story too soon for a life lived long and well. Frances Henley Woodruff DuBose — “Duffie” to her friends and admirers (there were many) — was a woman of many talents, many faces.
She came from Columbus, a child whose Georgia roots ran so deep that her dad played football for the 1903 UGA squad. She met a man, Beverly Means DuBose II, on an outing to Florida. That was in 1938. A year later, she married the Atlanta resident and came to the big city.
There, she and her husband did big things. After serving in the Navy during World War II, Beverly DuBose II established himself in the insurance business.
“Mom was the great wife who helped entertain all his clients and associates,” said her son, Beverly “Bo” DuBose III. “She was the supportive wife. But once he died (in 1986) she picked up the gantlet.”
A gantlet that included a list of charitable causes so extensive it would be just as easy to list those she didn’t support. She founded the Frances and Beverly DuBose Foundation, supporting educational and historic preservation across the state. She also was a member of the Iris Garden Club; the Atlanta Junior League; was active in the Forward Arts Foundation, supporting visual arts in Atlanta; was in the Colonial Dames of America; served as board member and chairwoman of Historic Westville, a living history exhibit in west Georgia; was a trustee emeritus for the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation; and gave generously to the Atlanta History Center.
Frances DuBose died of cancer Tuesday at her home, surrounded by family and friends. She was 95.
A funeral service will be Friday at 11 a.m. at the Cathedral of St. Philip, 2744 Peachtree Road NW. A reception will follow at the Cathedral Hall of Bishops. A family graveside service will follow at Westview Cemetery. H.M. Patterson & Son is handling arrangements.
Her son said his mother was a force of good, a source of strength. Following her husband’s death, she supported the work he began in supporting the Atlanta History Center. Under her leadership, the family donated a trove of Civil War artifacts.
Those gifts, given over a period of years, lifted the organization’s status, said Sheffield Hale, the history center’s president and CEO. The collection, housed in the DuBose Gallery, helped secure the Cyclorama, he said. The massive Civil War painting is moving from Grant Park to the center next year.
Frances DuBose, he added, gave of herself, too. “She was, literally, one of the nicest, most humble, wonderful people,” he said. “I wish we had more of these.”
She was elegance personified, said longtime friend Elizabeth Allen.
“Duffie was the epitome of quiet elegance, graciousness and dignity,” she said. “Duffie possessed an adventurous spirit, great wit, infinite wisdom, and a philanthropic heart.”
Another friend, Camille Yow, marveled at her stamina. She recalled DuBose visiting historic sites throughout the state at a time when most of her peers were happy to stay home.
“She was amazing,” said Yow, who knew DuBose through their work with the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation. “When she was 90 — 90! — she was still driving to (historic) sites.”
She didn’t limit her travel to Georgia, but was a world traveler, by air and ship. Her stops included nations and continents. Her accommodations ranged from five-star to jungle hut.
Her son said she possessed a keen sense of timing, too. He recalled his mom wanting to buy a new coat. This was decades ago. The coat cost $500 or more, and she fretted: That was so extravagant.
That evening, her husband came home with a smile on his face and a ragged bundle in his arms — a Civil War uniform, he announced. And what a deal! It only cost $4,000!
“The next day,” said Bo DuBose, “mama got a fur coat.”
She liked to laugh, added her daughter, Dean DuBose Smith. And she didn’t limit her chuckles to proper things.
“I never heard her cuss,” said Smith, “but she loved a good dirty joke every now and then.”
On the morning Mrs. DuBose died, recalled her daughter, the yard was alive with birds. They squawked and rose in the sky, a black funnel. They were a living storm, feathers and wings and screams, rushing toward heaven.
Moments later, Mrs. DuBose’s children checked on her. Her soul, like those birds, had flown.
In addition to her children and their spouses — Eileen DuBose, married to Bo; and Bronson Smith, married to Dean — DuBose is survived by seven grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
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