For Dr. Maureen Dinges and Dr. Anne Watts, Dr. Parthenia Franks was more of a sister than a colleague at Morehouse College.
“There was a time when the faculty was 95 percent male,” said Dr. Watts, associate vice president for academic affairs at Morehouse. “So yes, we ladies bonded quite nicely.”
The women found common threads in their lives and for nearly 30 years they had a tightly-knitted relationship.
Dr. Franks was, at the time of her death, an associate professor of speech communications and oversaw the advisement process for English majors at Morehouse College. She taught for more than 27 years at the all-male school. Her sudden death leaves a void at the college and in the hearts of her friends and family.
“My husband and I will miss her as a close, close friend, and then I’ll miss her as a colleague,” said Dr. Dinges, an associate professor of speech communication at Morehouse. “She will be missed by so, so many, I just can’t even tell you.”
Parthenia Evonne Hilliard Franks, of Decatur, died unexpectedly at home in her sleep Oct. 15. She was 65. She was buried in her hometown of Dinwiddie, Va., where Joseph M. Johnson & Son Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements. A memorial service has been planned for 4 p.m. Thursday in the Martin Luther King, Jr. International Chapel at Morehouse College.
Dr. Watts, a driving force behind the campus memorial, said Dr. Franks' legacy demands such a service.
“She provided so much for not only her friends but her students,” she said. “And this is a way to give something that will honor her.”
Dr. Franks came from a family of educators. Her mother was an English and literature teacher. Dr. Franks’, first name – Parthenia – is a combination of the Greek Parthenon and the Greek goddess Athena, a tribute to her mother’s love of literature, Dr. Watts said. Dr. Franks earned her undergraduate degree in language arts from Morgan State University in Baltimore, Md. She also earned two graduate degrees: a master’s, in speech-language pathology, from Howard University in Washington, DC; and a Ph. D., in career development, from Georgia State.
Dr. Franks’ teaching career developed from a love of communication, said her son Robert Hilliard Franks.
“Once she told me she really wanted to be a journalist and in front of a TV camera, but she didn’t have the nerve to do it,” he said. “She found her niche in lecturing and that’s how she delivered information, from behind a podium, not in front of a camera.”
There are hundreds of Morehouse students who are likely glad Dr. Franks chose academia, instead of journalism, said Mr. Franks, who is a Morehouse student. She was a popular teacher on campus, he said.
“I knew her as a teacher as well,” he said. “Sometimes when I would stop by her office, there were students talking to her about things that were not related to class. One of the reasons the students loved her so much is because she provided a sort of maternal umbrella for them, and they appreciated that. We appreciated that, I should say.”
Dr. Franks is also survived by two brothers, James Hilliard of Dinwiddie, Va., and William Hilliard of Houston, Texas.
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