The Life of Mrs. Francine Winifred Gram

Francine W. Gram
April 23, 1920 - January 31, 2021 Our mother, Francine was born on April 23, 1920 in her grandmother's house in the medieval walled town of Semur-en-Auxois in Burgundy, France. She grew up in Paris where her she attended school at the Lycée Jules Ferry, L'École Françoise de Maintenon, and the Université de Paris. She continued to spend her summer holidays in Semur at the Lac de Pont with her many childhood friends.
She lived under the Nazi occupation in Paris. However, when the US entered WWII, she and her family had to flee the country because her father was a former US Army officer and ex-patriate American citizen working for the Paris Herald Tribune. Francine and her family traveled through southern France to Spain. She finally crossed the last Nazi checkpoint at Irun in the Basque country, all the while carrying the photos of British pilots shot down over France hidden in her undergarments. They made it to Sintra, Portugal, where they lived for a year before they were finally able to obtain passage to the United States on the USS Excalibur.
Once in the US, our mother went to work for the Office of War Information's Voice of America in the French department where she was a broadcaster, and feature writer. She worked under the direction of Pierre Lazareff sending messages of hope to Nazi occupied France. While at the VOA, she also worked on the radio adaptation of Jean-Paul Sartre's Rue Sans Issue (No Exit), as well as with André Breton, the father of Surrealism. During this time, she was a frequent visitor to the White House because her Godfather, Dr. George Fox, was the personal physician to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
In 1946, she met Naval Officer and PT Boat Commander, Albert Whitworth Gram at an Officers' Club dance at the Delmonico in NYC. They were married on August 9, 1947 at the Little Church Around the Corner.
Our parents eventually settled in Westport, CT where they raised their family. Francine was active in the Alliance Française, the Officer's Club of Fairfield County, St. Luke's Parish Church, and the Westport Dance Cotillion.
She is survived by her great grandchildren, Albert Emerson, and John Croarkin, her grandchildren: Peter Emerson, Jamie Emerson, Christopher Croarkin, and Jenna-Louise Croarkin, as well as her two daughters, Nathalie Emerson, and Christine Croarkin. We will miss her elegance and wit but especially her profound love for all of us.
She will be interred in a private graveside ceremony at Oak Lawn Cemetery in Greenfield Hill, Fairfield, CT. We wish to thank the incredibly caring and professional staff of Bromley Manor in Manchester, VT for helping her on her final journey. Any donations in her name may be made to the ASPCA.