More than 200 people spent part of their Friday night at Roca Restaurant visiting with one of Vicksburg’s most respected and loved residents on her 90th birthday.

“Frances Koury is a phenomenal lady,” said Mayor George Flaggs Jr., one of the visitors. “I don’t know anybody who’s been as committed to Vicksburg, its history, its present and future like she has. I’ve talked to her many times, and every time I’ve learned some insight about Vicksburg and the community.”

Koury came to Vicksburg in 1943 and married Ellis Koury after he returned to Vicksburg after World War II.

“His family had a store at 1216 Washington St., The Emporium, that opened in 1928,” she said in a 2014 interview with the Vicksburg Post. “My husband had the shoe store next door. They moved the shoes out of The Emporium and opened Koury’s Shoe Store.”

In 1946, the Kourys bought the larger building and opened Koury’s Children’s Shop, which they operated until they retired in 1997. The shoe store is now Fredrick’s, which is owned by the Kourys’ niece, Norma Massey.

“My family shopped at her store, which was right next door to Fredericks, when I was a little boy,” Flaggs said. “They tell me that when you were wearing Koury’s shoes or Koury’s clothes, you were doing pretty good.

“They were always accommodating. It didn’t matter what color you were, didn’t make any difference what your last name was.”

The Friday night event honoring Frances Koury featured chamber and country music, which played as she received guests for almost an hour before her family could get her away to cut her birthday cake.

After the cake-cutting ceremony, well-wishers continued to stop by and shake her hand, give her a hug or say hello.

“It’s so overwhelming,” she said. “I’m so happy. You’d think I was a part of the city’s growth.”

She compared her friends and family to stepping-stones, adding, “we’re leaving those stepping-stones for those who follow.”

Planning for Koury’s party goes back more than a year, Connie Hosemann, her youngest daughter, said, adding she talked with her brother Ellis and sister Kate Knudsen about planning it.

“It’s been on my mind for the past year,” she said. “We did it for my father when he was 90.”

“I never sent invitations; I opened it to the public, because she’s so involved in our community. That was why we chose (the theme) “Hometown Treasure,” and I think that was evident by the turnout.

She touched so many lives in so many different ways. She’s loved the community and the people have loved her. That’s why we had ‘90 Years of Love’ on her cake.”

Besides working with her husband, Koury was the coordinator of the city’s 175th birthday celebration, performances by the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra, the Fourth of July Pops Concert and fireworks display, and the Four Seasons of the Arts program.

Her efforts to bring cultural events to children resulted in an average of 3,000 children annually being exposed to symphony music.

She was also the originator of the International Chamber Music Festival. Her community work resulted in her being honored by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Mississippi in 2006 as one of 20 Mississippi Ageless Heroes. In 2009, she received a first place State Community Service Award from the Daughters of the American Revolution.

She received a Special Service Award from the Mississippi Main Street Association in 2011 for her work advocating Vicksburg and its downtown area.

In 2014, she was grand marshal for the city’s Christmas Parade with U.S. Army Engineering Research and Development Center director Dr. Jeffery Holland.

“It’s amazing to see how many people have come to share memories,” Knudsen said. “There’s so much to tell.”

“My mother’s life is just like a flourishing tree, when you look around the room, you can see it with all the people that came out to see her.

“She was very loved and we’re very grateful for everybody who came out to show it.”